


Three Bloods- First Year

by Obsessedwithfanfiction



Series: Three Bloods [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adventure, Diverts from canon if we're taking Cursed Child as canon, Everyone is like 12, Gen, Harry Potter Next Generation, I'm sorry about the pretentious name I chose it when I was 11 and now it's too late, Just kiddie romance, LITERALLY, No romance here kiddies, OC main characters - Freeform, Teenage Drama, Well barely any romance, help them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-28
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-08-27 14:03:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 67
Words: 129,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8404435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Obsessedwithfanfiction/pseuds/Obsessedwithfanfiction
Summary: Eight Hogwarts students start on a hilarious journey that threatens their lives as well as spicing it up. Will James and Sam, the jokers who can't be seen as individuals, Lydjah and Jayna, the sharp-tongued Ravenclaws, Lien and Molly, the overlooked double-act and Scorpius and Albus, the most unlikely best friends, survive their first year as a team?





	1. Of Trying to Find Hogwarts and Actually Finding It

**Author's Note:**

> Did I start writing this when I was 11? Yes. Have I edited it since? Barely. Stick with it; my writing style steadily increases into past primary school. I am a slut for comments or kudos or whatever just leave me something.

Now it's not every day that you get a Hogwarts acceptance letter. In fact, it only happens on one particular day, if it happens ever. Fortunately for a certain occupant of a small town named Erith, her eleventh birthday was perfect in this particular scenario. Being attacked by about fifty owls was not, however, what she had in mind as she woke up that morning. Her mother fainted, her father yelled, and she? Well she simply ducked, and then, from some instinct she was not quite sure of, possibly the one that made doors slam behind her without touching them, or plants part where she walked, grabbed a letter with the green handwriting from the swirling storm of birds and tore it open. She skimmed the letter feverishly about seventeen times before Professor Vector knocked on the door, that is, seventeen times in as many seconds.

Of course, she didn't know her name was Professor Vector then. All she knew after she finally left was that suddenly the girl was not a freak of a 'muggle' but a witch and she was supposed to be boarding the Hogwarts express at 11 o'clock on September the 1st 2017. She stood, rather hopelessly, at Platform nine just hoping that something would happen to show her the way to nine-and-three-quarters. She had seen a couple of people with owls but when she turned to look at them more closely they had disappeared. Her parents stayed at home because her father had work and she didn't think her mother's rational mind could cope with all the magic.

Just as despair began to shadow her worried mind, and with it humiliation that she had been fooled into believing in magic (magic!), two girls jostled past her hurriedly.

The first girl looked apologetic, the second… Did not. It didn't seem to be in a particularly specific way, more that she was slightly entranced with her piled-high trolley.

"Merlin! Sorry we didn't see you there." Exclaimed the first girl worriedly. At an average height with endless locks of champagne-coloured hair, bright, almost transparently-green eyes and a perfectly restrained expression that she wasn't sure whether was about to break into laughter or into tears, the girl was pretty in an unconventional way- and commenting on this looked like it would either be received with gratefulness or a snort of disbelief. Her eyes were tired, although she concealed the bags rather expertly with make-up, not too much and not too little. The apologetic Ravenclaw, as she would later learn, had to look down to keep eye-contact with the lost girl, who was just under normal height for a girl her age.

The same could not be said for the second girl who towered over the two of them at a plainly ridiculous height for an eleven year-old girl, which is why, she decided, she must be in the years above. This girl had short choppy dark-brown hair that made her want to hold her longer, lighter hair in comfort, and, in the enclosed space, could not help looking down her small, straight nose at her, the splattering of freckles on her cream-coloured skin that also coated her arms and what was visible of her legs with tiny dots did not seem to rid Lien of the air of discordance that surrounded this girl. She always seemed to be either completely lost in thought or calculating the next action with cold logical precision, there was no in-between.

The taller girl rolled her eyes, seeming to snap out of her trance and regain memory of the last words spoken. "Honestly I'm so clumsy." She said the insult to herself in a tone that quite clearly implied that if anyone tried to agree with her she would hit them, "I'm Jayna. Jayna Blackwood."

The lost girl had the hysterical urge to giggle as Jayna stuck her hand out to shake, wishing only to reply with 'And I'm James, James Bond'. She repressed it forcibly and shook the proffered hand uncertainly. Jayna raised an eyebrow quizzically as she dropped her hand. The girl blushed but it didn't show up very well on her skin. Jayna gave a little snort of annoyance; being pale to the point of snow herself she wished that her blush didn't give her away so easily.

"I'm Lien Irby." She blurted out, a moment too late. Jayna froze and her eyes flickered for a second to her hand before she fixed a half-smile back in place. There was something decidedly cold in her bluey-green eyes now though. Lien noticed that Jayna's eyes were rather pretty, but that they had the misfortune to rest in a rather squinty position, something quite possibly caused by her near-sightedness.

"Muggleborn?" She guessed. Lien nodded awkwardly, was it really that obvious? Jayna's already pathetic smile fell ever so slightly. The other girl shot her a look and she smiled brightly, fakely, again.

"Do you know how to get to Platform nine-and-three-quarters?" Asked the other girl. "I'm Lydjah Dawson by the way."

"Nice to meet you." She said politely. "And no, I have no idea. I've been standing here for half an hour now." She didn't mean to sound as whiny as she did but she was, in her defence, bloody freezing. Without another word Jayna grabbed her own trolley and drove straight toward the solid wall in front of them. It wasn't as if she was running, because Jayna refused to run anywhere, on account of hating sport, but that she only had to take three of her long strides before she would hit the wall. Lien tried to shout a warning but it was too late; there was no avoiding the imminent crash now. She blinked and suddenly Jayna was nowhere in sight. She turned to gape at Lydjah who gave her the first genuine smile she had received all day.

"Magic?"

"Magic." Then she pointed Lien towards the wall, waited for a group of muggles to go past and then gave her a gentle push. She closed her eyes and ran forwards, flying through the magical barrier that thankfully did not feel like a solid brick wall. She saw Jayna ahead of her; a hand calmly placed on her trolley. She wasn't looking at the barrier though. She was looking at the biggest group of red-heads Lien had ever seen, and she was originally Scottish. She walked slowly over to her. Lydjah charged through the barrier gave her an encouraging grin as she dashed to catch up.

"Who's that?" Lien asked when she was in polite talking distance. Lydjah gaped at her.

"You don't know them? What are the muggles teaching kids these days?" She just shook her head feeling sheepish despite knowing it was probably not her fault. "That's the Weasley/Potter clan." She just shook her head again.

"You haven't heard of Harry Potter?! What on earth!" Lien gave her a lopsided smile. Lydjah sighed. "Right. Well Harry Potter- that tall man with the black hair over there- you know the one with the cool-shaped scar? Yes him, he won the last Wizarding War. His children are- James Sirius, the one who looks like his dad but different eye colour, after Harry's dad and Godfather-" Lien guessed from her sad look that they had both died in this last War, "who's in the year above you with Jayna and I-" So the year above her. Lien felt her nose wrinkle in aggravation- of course the only relatively nice people she'd met were in the year above. "Albus Severus, after the last two headmasters-" Again her look indicated their deaths, "he's the one with the really green eyes and crazy hair just like his brother- he's in your year by the way, and the little girl with the bob and the brown eyes; Lily Luna. His wife's the tall ginger stood next to him- you know, with the pink pygmypuff on her shoulder? Voted Witch Weekly's most gorgeous mother last week you know- Ginny Potter, nee Weasley. The rest of her extended family is around them- including his two best friends who ended up married to each other. Almost every single year has a Weasley/Potter or someone whose parents were friends with him in school."

"What about your parents?" Lydjah shrugged.

"My dad was a seventh year when Harry joined. And he was in Ravenclaw so…"

"'Ravenclaw'?"

"My house. Oh bloody hell they haven't told you anything have they?" Lien shrugged weakly.

"Oi! Jay-Jay!" Lien had the feeling that Lydjah was extremely privileged to call Jayna 'Jay-Jay' and keep breathing. "Can Lien here sit with us? We need to tell her about all the ridiculously handsome boys in our school." Jayna scoffed.

"Merlin! They aren't even that cute!" Lydjah didn't, however, miss the slight blush that arose when James looked their way. Lien walked ahead of them, dragging her trunk behind. Lydjah waggled her eyebrows and Jayna hit her teasingly on the arm. "Oh shut up." She sighed. Lydjah smirked knowingly prompting Jayna to hit her once more but this time with a small smile.

They dragged their trunks into the first available compartment. Lydjah shoved her trunk onto the above racks and Lien and Jayna followed suit. Jayna sat down and stared out the window, apparently a bit trance-like again, though Lien decided to talk as if Jayna was still listening.

"Right," began Lydjah, "basically there are three types of magical folk. After the last Wizarding war they changed how you classify them. 'Purebloods', like Jayna here, are people who have two magical parents. It doesn't matter what kind of blood status the parents are; as long as they're both magical then the child is a Pureblood. Of course, there are still families, again like Jayna, who's family have been all-magical for centuries and don't willingly change that often and sometimes they think they're above everyone else because of that." She sent an apologetic look Jayna's way but the girl only nodded like she agreed with what Lydjah said. "Then there are 'Half-Bloods' like me, who have one magic parent and one muggle and 'Muggleborns'-"

"Like me. With two non-magical parents, right?"

"Yeah. And then when you get to Hogwarts, everyone is split into one of four houses. Ravenclaw, like Jayna and I, Gryffindor, where most of the Potter/Weasley clan is- not all of them though, Hufflepuff and Slytherin." The last house was pronounced with forced normalcy, as if she were more used to spitting it out. "You get chosen for these houses based on your personality."

 _On my personality?_ Thought Lien worriedly, _What does that mean?_

"That house becomes who you have all your classes with though you will be occasionally joined by other houses in Herbology and-"

"'Herbology'?" Lydjah looked her in disbelief.

"There's a variety of classes." Jayna interrupted quietly, almost as if she was speaking to herself before looking at them properly. "Your muggle education won't help at all. What's your wand type?"

"Erm, English oak, 11 inches? Phoenix feather, 'surprisingly swishy'." She said the last part like it was a joke she wasn't quite sure she understood but didn't want to look stupid for not getting,

"Phoenix feather?" Lydjah gasped. "Wow that's really rare especially since, you know…" She trailed off. Lien tilted her head in confusion. "Never mind."

"Hmm." Said Jayna. Lien didn't like that 'hmm'. "Mine is pine, 14 ½ inches- unicorn tail hair. Unyielding." She drew out the last word as if it was something impressive or dangerous. Knowing her, it was more likely to be the latter.

"14 ½ inches?! Bloody hell!" Jayna blinked at her.

"'Bloody hell'? What's so bloody about the concept of the sinner's afterlife?"

"It's an expression. You said 'Merlin' before right? It's the same thing." Jayna shook her head muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'muggles' under her breath.

"Mine's Alder and it's 10 ½ inches I think. Unicorn like Jayna's- slightly springy." Lydjah blurted out. Lien was about to respond when there was a shout from the corridor, only slightly muffled by the closed door.

"J?! Since when have you ridden with Mudbloods?" Jayna stiffened, her hand reaching immediately to her pocket. She caught Lydjah's eye and they seemed to be having a silent conversation. Finally Jayna turned away and stood up rather jerkily, rolling on the balls of her feet as if not entirely sure of her decision. Then she let go of the object in her hand ( _Must be her wand_ Lien thought.) and shot out into the corridor, walking swiftly away from the jeering faces lingering in the window.

They left immediately after her, three of them in black robes in some sinister formation. They waited in silence for a moment and then there was a flash of light and several yelps of pain. Lydjah was on her feet with her wand drawn before Lien could blink.

"I'm sorry. I've, er, got to go." Lydjah took off after the four. She assumed they were coming back at some point seeing as they'd left their robes and trunks behind. Lien thought it would be a good time to get changed into her robes, though how was an entirely different matter.


	2. Of Opposite Twins and Insults

Jayna threw open the compartment next to her and shut it hastily, waiting until the three, understandably angry Slytherins; she had just hit them all with a bat-bogey hex while receiving nothing herself (while athletics was hardly her strong point, strategy was, and so it had been quite simple to just hide behind a corner until they'd gone into her line of sight), went into the next carriage to turn around and apologise to the stunned students behind her.

The apology died on her lips as she took in the two Gryffindors. While still stunned they were hardly innocent firsties like that Lien girl. _Ugh she smiled too much._

James Sirius Potter and his best friend Sam Andrews were staring at her with identically bemused expressions despite their completely opposite appearances. James' untameable black hair fell into his deep brown eyes in the casual way that she knew meant he'd spent ages perfecting. His black robes were pristine and were obviously made especially for him but were discarded on the seat next to him along with his tie. Instead he'd shrugged a red and gold jumper over the top of his shirt (which was missing the top two buttons anyway, not that you could see), an item of clothing that most people reserved for Quidditch matches only, which was just about concealing his collar so that the teachers would be unable to tell him off for not wearing the tie. He had fawn-coloured skin that highlighted yet another difference between the two Potter brothers; when they went on holiday James planned never to go inside; Albus planned never to have left in the first place.

Sam Andrews, on the other hand, was first and foremost a girl. She had long, white-blonde hair that reached her waist, but she kept it tied up in a ponytail with a pencil most of the time, although she was known for letting it loose occasionally, and icy-blue eyes so pale they almost blended with the white surrounding them. She should have been the girl that every boy lusted after and the most feminine, possibly French and should have gone to Beauxbatons. Instead she was James Potter's best-friend and a complete tom-boy from the rough end of Manchester with a Gryffindor tie to boot, although it hung limply round her neck instead of being tied properly. She'd put on her robes but Charmed the inside of them Gryffindor red, and she was wearing black trousers instead of the more popular skirt. Both of them, however, were identifiable by their matching black converses that they refused to swap for normal school shoes, despite the staff's protests, and had scored a total of eleven detentions for them before the teachers had given up.

Their bemusement slowly died replaced with smirks.

"Sorry, I just hexed some Slytherins and would really prefer not to have the retaliation." Jayna hoped her statement came off as blasé and not squeaky.

"Why in Merlin's name did _you_ hex some Slytherins?" Asked Sam, curiously. _Stupid Gryffindors. Stupid Muggleborns. No, wait, I didn't mean that. Merlin Jayna this isn't a great start._

"What do you mean by 'you'?"

"Well, no offence Blackwood, but you seem kind of uptight." Answered James. It was rather creepy the way they spoke for each other. Jayna found herself making a mental note of the first words James had ever spoken to her before stopping herself angrily.

"How is that not offensive?" She pointed out. "But I concede to your point and will try to make a better impression of myself in future. However, I'm still not going to answer your question." They blinked.

"Fair enough." They chorused. "Hey, Blackwood, what's with the rings?" James asked jokingly. Jayna's hand flew to her right ring finger where two thick gold bands rested, one slightly wider than the other. Sam bit her lip and stamped on James' foot, hard.

"If you'll excuse me." The Ravenclaw darted back into the corridor.

"What the Hell was that for?" James yelped. James had adopted the Muggle way of swearing much preferring it over 'Merlin' related cursing.

"Merlin James; they're wedding rings!" Sam had adopted wizard curses, much preferring it over her original Muggle way.

"So… She's getting married?" He asked, even more confused than ever. Sam hit him on the head with her rolled-up copy of the Daily Prophet.

"No, you dipshit," Though she had to admit that Muggles had been more inventive, "they're her parents' rings." He blinked and then his expression cleared and his cheeks coloured with shame.

"Oh."

"Yeah." Sam agreed, unrolling the paper and placing it on her lap.

"That was a bit insensitive." Sam shrugged, flicking through the pages nonchalantly.

"Eh, I don't think she'll mind."

"And why's that?" James asked desperately. While both of them were immature and enjoyed a laugh at another's expense, neither enjoyed others' pain, and what Jayna had been through that summer was painful enough without random Gryffindors infringing on it.

"She likes you." Sam said. It was not in a jealous or smirking way but more of one stating a fact.

"Really?" Immediately, worry over Jayna's feelings was forgotten. It was unfortunate, but teenagers do not need to think beyond themselves and that right should be given to them for as long as they can hold onto it, because once they let it go they'll never get it back.

"Yes."

"Hmm… You think I have a chance with her?" Sam chortled loudly.

"No!"

"But you said she liked me!"

"And she does. Doesn't mean you have any chance with her at all."

"Bloody Hell, girls are weird." Sam shrugged again in agreement and then pulled out a dungbomb from her trunk.

"No way is Jayna Blackwood getting a better prank on the Slytherins than us."

"Agreed." James said with a smirk.

 

Lydjah sighed in relief as Jayna tapped her on the shoulder, pulling her head out of the sixth years' compartment without replying to the people inside.

"I don't get how you can just talk to anyone." Jayna interrupted what Lydjah was about to say.

"Immense skill of mine. Now, what happened with your- those Slytherins?" Jayna shrugged.

"Got bored of their taunts, hit them with a Bat-Bogey hex each then ducked into James Potter's compartment." Lydjah wasn't sure which part of that sentence she was most interested in as they walked back to their own compartment.

"What did they say? All three at the same time? And _James Potter_ 's compartment?!" Jayna managed a smile at her friend's enthusiasm.

"They said the usual. No point going into that. No; I just rapid fired them; hid behind the corner between carriages you see. And yes; _James Potter_ 's compartment. Sam was there too."

"Well of course she was. What happened?" While she didn't exactly squeal excitedly, gossiping about James Potter was a normal past time for most of the girls in the school. Like his namesakes, James lived up to the expectation that his Uncle George had set him in causing as much havoc without getting caught as humanly possible. His only detentions were for not handing in homework; which happened most of the time, and for the converses, despite all of the teachers knowing almost every prank was down to him and Sam. No-one was quite sure how they did it and everyone speculated. This was, of course, not the only reason for the gossip as every girl or boy who wasn't blind to the ways of looks could see that James was going to be gorgeous, if he wasn't already. The same could be said of Sam but, as the majority of gossip came from heterosexual girls, she wasn't lingered on as much.

"Not much. I said something along the lines of 'I hexed some Slytherins and didn't want the retaliation' he asked why I, of all people, was duelling being an uptight cow-"

"He said you were a cow?"

"No. He implied that I was a cow when he said I was uptight." She said frowning. Lydjah burst out laughing.

"Jayna he only has one lesson with you."

"I am aware." _Painfully aware._

"And that class is?"

"Defence Against the Dark Arts." She rattled off immediately. Their timetables she supposed would change this year but last year that had been their only class together. Lydjah made a 'carry-on' gesture with her hand. Jayna just raised her eyebrows.

"Jayna have you seen yourself in DADA?"

"Surprisingly no." She replied sarcastically.

"Well then, I shall have to inform you of the way you basically bounce on the edge of your seat and answer every question in perfect Queen's English. Or of the way your notes are precise and immaculately taken down or how I have never seen you smile or talk out of turn ever in that class."

"Really?" Jayna couldn't decide whether to be impressed at her own dedication or mortified that she looked like such a swot.

"Yes." Lydjah laughed. "No wonder he thinks you're uptight; you act like a snobby rocket-scientist in Defence."

"A 'rocket-scientist'?"

"Muggle job." Lydjah said shortly, gauging her reaction. Apart from the skin around her eyes tightening ever so slightly she seemed no different. Lydjah held back a sigh of relief. They reached the compartment where a ginger first year was now sat with their short caramel-haired companion.

"Well this is new."


	3. Of Molly Weasley and Quiet Tragedies

Lien was more than a little embarrassed that her first meeting to one of the famous Potter/Weasleys was with her arms stuck hopelessly behind her and black material covering most of her face.

"Do you need some help?" Asked a small voice from behind her.

"Please." Replied Lien thankfully. With three simple tugs her robes were pulled into place. "Thank you." She sighed.

"No problem." Said the shy voice. The voice belonged to a young looking girl who had kind, determined, brown eyes, an overwhelming amount of freckles and flaming ginger hair that had been cut into a bob by her older cousins, and therefore her fringe was completely mismatched. Lien liked her immediately.

"I'm Lien." She said with a grin.

"Molly Weasley."

"Oh." Said Lien blushingly. Molly smiled brightly.

"Don't worry; I'm Percy's daughter." Her explanation was met with a blank face.

"Muggleborn?" Molly guessed.

"Is it really that obvious?"

"Yes." She replied honestly. "But don't worry- it's nice to have someone who doesn't know yet." Lien made a gesture for her to carry on thinking it was probably going to be something she needed to know in order to not look like the stupidest girl in the year, and besides the Weasley family sounded awesome, "Basically, there were seven Weasley children-"

"Were?" Asked Lien hesitantly.

"Uncle Fred died."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry- I never met him, the Wizarding War was nineteen years ago." The precision of the years showed just how much it had meant to her family. "Anyway, the oldest, Uncle Bill, married Fleur Delacour…?" Lien shook her head again, "Triwizard-champion? Works at Gringotts? No?" Lien decided that shaking her head was probably going to be something she did often from now on. "Never mind. They've had three kids; Victoire who's in seventh year, Dominque in fifth and Louis is fourth. Then there's Uncle Charlie who hasn't married anyone but he's awesome because he works with dragons."

"Dragons? They're real?"

"Real, huge and terrifyingly amazing!" Lien's eyes widened to saucers. "Anyway, the next child down is my dad; Percy- he's the Head of the Department of Magical Transportation." Lien was almost certain she would mix up all these names but she didn't really mind. "My mum's Audrey Weasley, she's an Auror; kind of like a wizard police woman- did I say that right? And I have a younger sister, Lucy, who's nine. Sorry I'm rambling."

"No, it's interesting. Do you want to sit down?" Molly smiled and sat opposite. At Lien's encouraging nod she continued.

"Right, so next is Uncle Fred. He's Uncle George's twin, well he was. Then there's Uncle George he's the co-manager of 'Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes', I don't know if you saw it in Diagon Alley?" Lien nodded vigorously, because she had, though had not gone inside seeing as she was on a rather tight budget. "Who's married Angelina Weasley, nee Johnson; international Quidditch star plays for the Appleby Arrows-"

"'Quidditch'?"

"Oh it's amazing! It's a magical-only sport played on broomsticks with four balls- oh I'll let the teacher explain I'm not sure I understand all the rules myself. They've had two children- Fred the 2nd who's in third year and Roxanne who's in ours. Next is Uncle Ron who's one of Uncle Harry's best friends, he was an Auror for two years but left to work with Uncle George- he's the other co-manager, and he's married to the Deputy-Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Auntie Hermione; Harry's other best friend. They've had two kids; Rose and Hugo, Rose is in our year and Hugo is nine. That leaves Auntie Ginny, she used to play for the Holyhead Harpies but she retired so that she could work for the Daily Prophet, she is, of course, married to Harry-"

"And they have three kids right?" Lien screwed up her face in concentration. "James, who's in the year above and named after Harry's dad, Albus who's in our year and Lily."

"Yeah. Lily's the same age as Hugo and Lucy."

"What does Harry do then?"

"He's the Head of the Auror office." Lien had no idea what an Auror was, despite Molly's helpful hint about it being to do with enforcing the law, because she had no idea what enforcing wizarding law entailed, although she admitted it did sound important.

"Wow! Your family's huge!" Lien exploded excitedly and then blushed, wondering if that was rude.

"I know! Christmas is a nightmare- Grandma Molly can hardly keep up."

"You were named after her?"

"Yeah. So what's your family like?"

They were interrupted by the door opening. "Well this is new." Remarked Lydjah.

"Hi." Said Lien, reverting back into herself slightly. "Oh, this is Molly Weasley by the way." Jayna raised her eyebrows in greeting and then went and sat back by the window, pulling a newspaper from her pocket. Lydjah mimicked her but turned to the younger girls.

"Hi; Lydjah Dawson." She said with a smile, "And my moody antisocial friend is Jayna Blackwood."

"Blackwood?" Asked Molly, a touch of fear in her voice. Jayna glared at her.

"Do you need your hearing tested?" She hissed through her teeth. Molly shook her head, terror evident and Jayna relaxed. "Good." She went back to her newspaper. Lien glanced up at Lydjah's sorrow-filled expression and decided she needed to learn about this world she was going into- though preferably not where Jayna could hear her.

"My family… I have an older sister called Pearl and my parents have some job that I'm not entirely sure I understand. They're all relatively normal- I'm not quite sure what happened in my genetic make-up." Jayna opened her mouth- possibly to explain is very technical terms exactly what had happened but Lydjah shot her a look. "What about you Lydjah?"

"I'm an only child. My mum works at Natwest," she noticed Molly's confused look, "it's a bank but no my mother is not a goblin," she said with a heavy sigh, her tone insinuating that she'd heard the remark before and had no interest in hearing it again, "basically she fires people, and my dad's hiding under the alias of working in IT when actually he's an Obliviator for when there's a breach in the International Statue of Secrecy."

"Does your mum not know that you're magic?" Asked Molly curiously.

"No. Not yet. Dad keeps procrastinating it and without his help I won't be able to convince her." A look of annoyance crossed her face; clearly this was not something her dad and her agreed on.

"Wow."

"Yeah. But the rest of my family's pretty big, ¾ muggle because my dad was a Half-Blood too."

None of them asked Jayna.


	4. Of Entering the Castle and Nervous Chattering

The rest of the journey passed without event- Lien had now tried the majority of magical sweets and wasn't entirely sure she liked any of them (and was very disturbed with the idea of Bertie Botts seeing as they looked just like her favourite sweet- Jelly beans) - the Slytherins did not return and the castle came into view promptly distracting all of them.

The train rattled into Hogsmeade Station, the small hiss of the steam on the cold tracks marking the way. They all grabbed their suitcases with varying degrees of difficulty (Molly had, earlier, gotten hers from her original carriage).

"Lien, you see that tall bloke over there?" Lydjah asked, tapping her on the shoulder. Lien looked through the train windows into the night and blinked as the shadow of the man passed over her. Tall was an understatement.

"Yeah?"

"Go to him when you get off the train. He'll help you and Molly onto the boats."

"Why; where are you going?"

"Jayna and I get on the carriages with all the other years." Lien looked to the left of the giant man and saw the multitude of black seats rumbling down the wet path towards them.

"How are they moving?" Lien asked excitedly. There was no sign of a horse or driver, just the sleek black walls of it and yet there seemed to be space for horses at the front. Lydjah cast a quick glance at Jayna who said nothing and then back at Lien. Next to them, Jayna stared out of the window, her face completely lacking emotion.

"Magic." She answered quietly. Lien beamed.

"Thank you for letting me sit with you." Lien said quickly as their line began to move.

"No problem. Hopefully we'll see you around." Lien missed Jayna's eye roll to the Heavens but Lydjah didn't.

"Ow!" She exclaimed in annoyance rubbing her arm and glaring at her friend.

"Be nice." She admonished.

"You're not my mother." Jayna said sulkily. Lydjah froze.

"Well thank goodness for that." She replied eventually, her voice shaky.

"Hmmm." Lien was pushed out the door before she could hear any more of that conversation and as soon as she left the train carriage she was too preoccupied with how to keep herself dry and warm to the best of her ability to want to.

Molly grabbed her hand and pushed through the crowd until they were stood next to the giant. He stood, more than two metres tall, which for Lien may as well have been a mountain, but his heavily bearded face did not conceal the friendly twinkle in his eyes as he looked down at them.

"Firs' years? Ah 'nother Weasley isn't it?" He boomed. Molly nodded.

"Molly; Percy's daughter."

"Eh, you're the first of Percy's right? And who are you?" The giant addressed Lien directly. He seemed nicer than his shabby, giant-homeless-man appearance seemed to indicate so she managed a smile.

"Lien Irby."

"Nice to meet you Lien. I'm Professor 'agrid." He smiled at them. "If you leave your trunks 'ere we'll get 'em to the castle for you." Indeed there was a big pile of neatly stacked trunks left from other years. Hagrid lifted their trunks with one hand and placed them by the others. "We 'ad too much trouble last year when they were capsized in the lake." Molly held back a giggle with difficulty but it seemed Hagrid caught it anyway. "Oh it was your cousin wasn't it! James Potter and Sam Andrews… Those two will be the death of me!"

Lien and Molly both laughed appreciatively. "Sorry Professor Hagrid." Molly apologised.

"If you'll excuse me." He said worriedly- several other First-Years seemed to be trying to throw someone's trunk in the lake. "OI!"

Lien turned to Molly. "Shall we get in this one then?" She gestured at the empty wooden boat closest to them rocking gently in the dark water. The water stretched out so much it seemed there was a black hole between them and the castle. Molly nodded her agreement.

They sat down, tucking their skirts beneath them.

"Hey Mol, can I sit here?" The young boy with the ridiculously green eyes blinked hopefully up at the two of them. Lien gave him a quick once over, insisting to herself (and also to her muggle boyfriend back at home) that it was purely for intellectual purposes. While his eyes would always be his most striking feature he also had a long, relatively straight nose that she had noticed on his uncle (Ron was it?) as well, and was slightly smaller than Molly, maybe an inch taller than herself. His robes were ridiculously perfect, he was even sporting a smart blazer, and there were a few freckles dotting his face.

"Sure Al." Molly scooted closer to Lien to give him space.

"Lien Irby." Lien said politely once he was settled. She wasn't entirely sure if wizards did handshakes or not so finished with this unsure little wave that she mentally cursed herself for quite possibly the next five years. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

"Albus Potter." Lien only risked a quick glance at him as embarrassment had quite shut her up and she was certain the celebrity thought she was a total idiot. He did not, but that's neither here nor there.

Molly and Albus chatted amicably about houses and whatnot but did not try to include Lien in their conversation. The three were joined by some apparently nameless people until Albus introduced them.

"Oh right, Lien; this is Harriet Selwyn and Julian Arnton, Hazz, Julian; Lien Irby." They all murmured greetings.

Harriet Selwyn was very small, Lien thought it may be the first time someone was shorter than her, who had white skin and dirty blonde, shoulder-length hair, dark green eyes which were framed with heavy make-up and long, pink painted nails. Julian was taller, if a little chubby, with short, light hair. He was soft-spoken and looked to be very gentle, Lien couldn't imagine him ever raising his voice or being part of a fight.

Harriet squealed as the boat started, gripping the sides tightly. Lien kept in her snort of laughter, just. Unfortunately she looked up in time to catch Molly's eye and that made their giggles unstoppable. The rest of the boat looked at them bemusedly.

They all, however, fell silent as the castle rolled into view, the rain and wind no longer on their minds. Molly sighed in contentment- she had had almost a complete analysis of the entire castle from her various relatives; she could find her way around it with her eyes closed despite never stepping foot inside it before, and yet none of those words quite compared to the actual place. Albus, while very appreciative of the view, was only growing more anxious of what the rest of his family was going to say about his sorting; regardless of whether his father would be proud of him or not, Albus had another thirty odd close family members to answer to, and he knew, somewhere, that he had already made up his mind. Julian was trying to conceal his extreme excitement in light of everyone's reactions and the cramped space. Harriet was thinking of James Potter which explains itself.

And Lien? Lien was thrillingly terrified. It was big, new, old, exciting and frightening. She pulled her new cloak around herself and shivered in longing. She did not speak for some time.

The boats cut into the shore and stopped. The five clambered out of the boat. For a moment they all looked at each other awkwardly and then Harriet smiled and ran off towards another blonde girl shrieking her head off- not in alarm but girly excitement.

"Shall we go? It's awfully cold." Lien was the last to clamber out of the boat, shaking her hair loose of her clothes. The others nodded in agreement and the four remaining trudged behind Hagrid to the castle. They were ushered into the hall by a tall young witch who, despite her pretty appearance, didn't look like the kind of teacher you would hand your homework in late for. Her long, red-tinted robes swished as she walked towards them, and her large thin hat did not seem at all out of place, even for the Muggleborns. Her blonde braids were pinned firmly back from her face but not too severely- there was an air of kindness about the woman, as well as intelligence.

"First-Years! Thank you Professor Hagrid. First-Years! If you could all look this way!" The babbling of the excited eleven year olds quietened to a low murmur. "Thank you. My name is Professor Avisana and I teach Defence Against the Dark Arts as well as being Head of Gryffindor house. For those of you who are unaware, shortly you will be escorted into the Great Hall where the Sorting Ceremony will take place. When I read your name please place the Sorting Hat on your head and it will decide which house is best for you. There are four houses; Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin, each with its own admirable and not so admirable qualities. Each of the houses are very close within each other and you will spend most of your classes with people in your house; especially in your First-Year. Please wait a moment while we set up the ceremony." She disappeared through the double doors. Immediately excited chatter once again broke out.

"Do you know which house you would like to be sorted into?" Albus asked. He hoped the question passed off as casual and not terrified.

"I'd like to be a Hufflepuff." Julian said quietly, though he always spoke quietly.

"I don't think I mind really." Molly mused, as if she hadn't given it much thought (she had; hours in fact). "Obviously I'm not smart or dedicated enough for Ravenclaw and I don't think I'm cut out to be a Slytherin so it's probably between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff." The three looked at Lien who just shrugged.

"I have no opinion on this other than who on earth named these houses?" They burst into nervous laughter, each of them secretly terrified.


	5. Of The Sorting and Its Implications

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So guys this is still the longest chapter I have ever written for anything ever (it's really not that long) but don't be expecting chapters of this length to continue. I'm really not that great ;)  
> Also there are spoilers for the Clockwork series by Cassandra Clare in this (sorry)

Professor Avisana came back a few moments later and pushed the wooden double doors open fully. Lien kept in her gasp of amazement by pinching the inside of her wrist discreetly although no-one else in the group followed her lead. They stumbled wonderingly after the teacher, watching the sky wheel ahead up above. The rest of the school, seated in a colour co-ordinated fashion (it took her a moment to remember the houses), on four tables, sniggered at them with varying degrees of cruelty. Lien took no notice, too entranced by the points of flickering light floating above her head. Her Muggle-wired mind searched helplessly for pulleys or strings that held them in place, refusing still to believe in magic. Molly ducked laughingly into the middle of the group away from the reaching hands from the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, most of them belonging to fellow gingers.

The Head of Gryffindor house coughed loudly and the shambling group came to an abrupt halt. Before anyone could speak the large brown hat sat upon the stool in front of them opened at the brim and began to sing. To her chagrin, Lien did not remember a single line of the song- her confused mind too busy coping with a hat being able to talk to actually hear what the hat was saying. She applauded quietly with everyone else when it had finished though.

"Ackerley, Charlotte!" The rather plump girl waddled to the stool and put on the hat.

"Ravenclaw!"

"Arnton, Henry!" A short blond-haired boy walked slowly up to the front and put the hat on his head looking decidedly petrified. Julian looked equally worried.

"That's my cousin." He breathed into Lien's ear. She managed a half smile of good luck but was feeling rather queasy herself.

"Hufflepuff!" The Hufflepuffs glowed with triumph and applauded loudly. Henry walked off with shaky legs into the arms of his fellow housemates and the next name was called.

"Arnton, Julian!" He needn't have worried because the hat made its decision as soon as it touched the top of his blond curls.

"Hufflepuff!"

"Baddock, Asher!"

"Slytherin!"

"Baldwin, Adela!"

"Gryffindor!"

"Burke, Isabella!"

"Hufflepuff!"

"Coleman, Jack!"

"Slytherin!"

"Dabney, Michael!"

"Slytherin!"

"Edwards, Gideon!"

"Ravenclaw!"

And then, "Irby, Lien!" For a second she froze and then, hesitantly, she wiggled her way free of the crowd and onto the stool. She picked the hat up where the last person had haphazardly dropped it and placed it on her own head.

_Hmmm… I see your confusion- you're not used to this are you? A Muggleborn witch with such high potential… But no Ravenclaw is not the house for you… I think…_

"Hufflepuff!" She barely registered that the hat had been speaking (inside her mind!) and that the garbled word it had just spit out was supposed to be her house. She took off the hat and placed it carefully down (who knows what it would do if it fell off?) and walked towards the cheering sea of yellow and black. The Arnton cousins grinned at her.

"Are you one of Julian's friends?" Henry asked. Julian blushed and tried to shush his cousin but Lien just slid into the seat next to them with ease.

"I suppose." She mused, thinking that they had only met half an hour ago but it was a perfectly amicable half an hour. Julian beamed. "You're his cousin."

"Yeah."

"Why is it called Hufflepuff?" She was now speaking in a whisper as to not interrupt the sorting. "And what does it mean?"

"You're a Muggleborn aren't you?" Lien frowned- she really needed to work out if that was bad or good, "Basically, the four houses are named after the four founders of Hogwarts- Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff."

"Jeez these guys had a thing for alliteration." Henry snorted appreciatively.

"Yes- but those were their actual names. Anyway, Gryffindors are supposed to be brave and curious but they're also hot-headed and rash, Ravenclaws are meant to be clever, like seriously clever, but that doesn't make them all swots, they could be clever as in not academically, and determined but they can also be very patronising or cold," Yes cold did seem to describe Jayna quite well, "Slytherins are ambitious and very loyal to their own blood but cunning and ruthless and because of this have a bad reputation, and finally, we're meant to be kind and hard-working but not especially bright or brave- though not necessarily neither." Lien considered this for a moment and then shrugged accepting it as a pretty accurate sum of her character.

"Lockwood, Sophia!"

"Ravenclaw!"

"Long, Abigail!"

"Hufflepuff!"

They all watched the Sorting, Lien with fascination, Julian with curiosity and Henry, being rather self-centred, because he had nothing else to do.

"Malfoy, Scorpius!" A tall skinny boy with pinched features and white blond hair strutted confidently to the stool, but Lien could not tell if the arrogance was feigned or not.

A note on Scorpius Malfoy:

Earlier:

_Scorpius was not unhappy exactly, just a bit... Unsettled. His mother was still away on business but had sent a long letter which he had burnt angrily. He regretted it now but at the time it had felt like the right thing to do. That was yesterday, the day before he went to Hogwarts for the first time. His father, Draco had come into the enormous living-room just as he had burnt the letter in the room's fire. They'd looked at each other for a moment, Draco shocked, Scorpius glaring defiantly, and then Draco sighed._

_It was a long sigh, full of defeat, and he plonked himself very impolitely on the sofa._

_"Come here." he said gesturing to the luxurious leather seat across from him. It was not a command and yet there was something in his voice that left no space for excuses. Scorpius sat down feeling slightly unnerved. Despite the fact the Malfoy name had been tarnished by its reputation of death-eaters and cowards, they were still a very rich family, mainly due to Harry Potter's account of Draco's part in the war. Draco and Scorpius were not as close as either of them would have liked (though they were closer than Lucius and Draco ever were) and so talks like these hardly ever happened._

"Although," _Scorpius thought,_ "Last time it was just to say he needed to post a letter."

_"Scorpius, when you go to school tomorrow," he hesitated, trying to find the right words, "no matter what your mother says, I will be proud of you, even if you don't get into Slytherin." Scorpius gaped at him. His entire life so far had revolved around getting into Slytherin. His whole family dating back generations, with the exceptions of Sirius Black, Nymphadora Tonks and Edward Lupin, none of whom were still on his family tree, had been in Slytherin. His friends' backgrounds were all Slytherin- though this mainly came from them being his second cousins twice removed or something. If he didn't become a Slytherin… Well he didn't want to know what would happen. His mother had even started the letter with 'My Dear little Slytherin'._

_"Why?"_

_Again his father hesitated. "I made many mistakes in Slytherin- I chose the wrong friends, the wrong path, the wrong side," The pause was much longer this time, "the wrong girl."_

_If possible Scorpius' incredulity rose even higher. "But you love mother." Hardly concealed panic in his voice._

_"Yes I do." Draco said gently, "But our marriage was arranged by our parents, I had no say in the matter and I was in love with another girl."_

_"Who?"_

_Draco smiled, a sad, wistful expression taking over his face. "Hermione Granger." Scorpius racked his brain confusedly but he didn't know anyone by that name. He knew, or he had heard of another Hermione, of course he had, she was a celebrity- he had her chocolate frog card, and he knew she had a daughter his age- but her last name was Weasley- not Granger. The Weasleys were not, of course, someone he was allowed to associate with on account of being the largest blood-traitorous family out there but he knew of them all the same- the Daily Prophet was obsessed with them (When he'd asked his Dad about them he'd gone pale and changed the subject). "She's Hermione Weasley now."_

_Scorpius' jaw dropped. "But Dad wasn't she," he lowered his voice, "a Gryffindor?" A Slytherin falling in love with a Gryffindor was almost as bad as a Slytherin falling for a Mudblood. Draco's smile turned mischievous._

_"She was a Muggleborn too." Scorpius thought he was going to go into shock. His father hadn't said Mudblood, but more importantly- he'd fallen for a Gryffindor Muggleborn? He looked at his father with a new respect- he must have really loved her to have risked that. "So if you get into another house, even Hufflepuff," he said teasingly, "or fall for someone who is not a Pureblood I will back you all the way."_

_That talk was the reason for Scorpius' unsettlement. Their journey to platform nine-and-three-quarters had done nothing to help his nerves seeing as he'd had to run straight into a brick wall. He could hardly see anything on the platform because of the bustle. Steam rose from the scarlet engine over the throng of people which was in-scripted with the words 'Hogwarts Express.' Mothers dashed after children, owls screeched and wands stuck up at weird angles in weird places. Scorpius' own wand, purchased three days ago in Diagon Alley, was unique in that it was identical to his father's._

_Before he could fully take it all in he felt Draco stiffen beside him and turned to see what the problem was, looking up from the bubbling mass near his feet that he assumed was some kind of potion. Scorpius saw a large family coming towards them, most of them red-heads but the occasional brunette or blonde popped up every so often. He recognised many of them from press articles._

_There was the infamous Harry Potter, recognisable by his untidy black hair, green eyes, round glasses and lighting-shaped scar on his forehead, with his wife Ginny Potter, her flaming red hair flowing out like a beacon behind her. Their children, James looking exactly like Harry minus the scar, green eyes and round glasses (his being brown and rectangular respectively), Albus, with his father's hair and green eyes but his mother's eyesight and features, and Lily who was the spitting image of Ginny, her hair hiding the streaks of tears on her face._

_Just behind them was the extremely entertaining George Weasley, his arm slung casually round his son Fred's shoulders, the only difference between them being age. His wife Angelina looking frantically for their daughter. As he watched he saw her, Roxanne, suddenly reveal herself a few metres away as the crowd around her parted laughing; it seemed the first year had inherited her father's hilarity- and quite possibly one of his infamous invisible hats. George laughed and although it was sincere, his eyes still did not light up completely, the echo of his brother's death swimming in their depths._

_Then a little further back was Fleur and the permanently scarred Bill Weasley, with their three children. Victoire, the eldest, knocked him speechless with her beauty, he wanted to step forwards in longing until he remembered she was part Veela so he squeezed his eyes shut while she passed, not opening them until the whole little family had gone past, as he knew that the other children were all extremely gorgeous too. Molly and Arthur, now in their sixties, each carried one of Percy Weasley's children, Molly carrying the one who had been named after her. Even though she looked to be his age she still squealed in childish delight and Scorpius felt a pang of jealousy that he had never been carried anywhere since he was a baby. Percy and Audrey walked hand-in-hand behind them, smiling bemusedly at their children while at the same time having a heated conversation about broom regulation. Out of the entire clan, Charlie was the only one missing._

_Finally, Ron and Hermione came into view as he glanced back at the Boy who Lived. Scorpius caught his father's look of sadness before Draco shook his head and went to speak to Greggory Goyle whom Scorpius assumed was one of Draco's 'wrong' friends. Goyle's son was a thug who was infatuated with Scorpius. In recent years however, Scorpius had begun to think his infatuation was rather creepy and he had avoided him ever since. He didn't actually know what they were doing here seeing as their son wasn't starting till next year (thank Merlin) and had no interest in finding out._

_Perhaps because he had no desire to speak with the younger Goyle, or the older one for that matter, Scorpius turned his attention back to his father's first love and her family. Had Scorpius known how much this one act was going to change him he would've gone scampering over to the Goyles without a second glance. This would be the first time he ever saw Rose Weasley and he would never forget it._

_Her red hair was flowing down her back in a mane of tangled curls that she blew angrily out of her face every few seconds. Her light brown eyes were rolled in exasperation as she opened her mouth to shout something at her younger brother. She had a small sprinkling of freckles along her nose, a nose she must have inherited from her mother as her father's was rather long. She was wearing fashionable Muggle clothing with her wand clutched in her right hand, her left was holding up a pile of books that were rather precariously balanced. Scorpius' feet itched to go and help her._

_She looked up, suddenly meeting his silvery-grey eyes with her own. Her lips parted in surprise but his view was suddenly blocked by a group of people passing between them. Scorpius hurried to his father before the group had finished passing, knowing that if he didn't he'd be spell-bound to that spot. Draco bent down as he saw his son approaching so that the younger boy could whisper into his ear._

_"I see what you mean." His father smiled and pulled his son into a hug_

_"Go get on the train otherwise there won't be any seats left."_

_Dragging his heavy trunk over to the train Scorpius began to search for an empty compartment in which he could safely read the letter his father had just placed in his pocket._

The hat had barely touched his head when "Slytherin!" rang out. He stood again rather quickly but managed to slow down his walk to the table until it looked casual again. The Slytherins cheered but the rest of the houses looked at him with evident dislike.

"What did he do wrong?" Lien asked Julian.

"Well, it's not really him; it's that his family was on the wrong side of the war. His Grandfather and Grandmother were both well-known Death Eaters-"

"What is a Death Eater?" Lien asked worriedly- the name was rather ominous.

"Oh that's what He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's followers were called." He explained.

"Who's He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" Her confusion was only increasing, "And why," she added as an afterthought, "can he not be named?"

"He was the leader of the bad side in the war. His name used to be a taboo- people are still hesitant of using it just in case. I don't mind saying his name but in public it would be disrespectful to the people's families he destroyed. He's dead now."

"Oh."

"Yeah." There was a brief moment of awkward silence. "Anyway," Julian continued hurriedly, "the Malfoys' loyalty has always been questionable and they're still trying to make up for their involvement in the last war. Their reputation hasn't been the same since." Lien couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the proud young boy- surely it wasn't his fault that his ancestors had made the wrong choices?

"Nott, Alby!"

"Ravenclaw!"

"Pemberly, Kira!"

"Ravenclaw!"

"Potter, Albus!" The room quietened as Albus, his face looking as green as his eyes, shakily pushed through the diminishing group of first years and to the stool.

Jayna looked to James Potter who was sat directly opposite her on the Gryffindor table. He was smiling confidently- no doubt in his mind that his brother would be joining him soon. Victoire from the top end of that table looked at Albus worriedly. Her best friend Chloe Green, a Sixth Year Chaser, who made Victoire look like a giant with her tiny stature and inky black hair, nudged her in reassurance and Victoire smiled back gratefully.

Jayna bit her lip thinking about the part-Veela prefect, trying not to laugh. Word was it that James had walked in on her and Teddy Lupin sucking face in one of the train compartments earlier that day. Of course, the two had been together for three years now; ever since the 2014 Quidditch World Cup, although, again, the exact start date of their romance was still speculated. He was two years older, which had caused quite a stir when they'd first start going out (a fourth year and a sixth year dating wasn't unheard of but neither was it common) but the two of them hadn't really cared what anyone thought.

Victoire herself- while outwardly worried for her cousin- was still inwardly reeling from that kiss. Of course, she'd kissed Teddy before, but there was something a little deeper in it; maybe because they'd been caught; not that everyone didn't already know of course. She still thought their relationship had started as a bit of fun for Teddy (though why he'd needed a source of entertainment when he'd been at the Quidditch World Cup was beyond her) but by the end of that very eventful weekend (where he'd almost broken her nose in excitement at the possible snitch capture, and she hadn't broken up with him) it was clear that Teddy was feeling a little more than just casual fancy for her. In truth, Teddy had asked out the oldest Weasley child before the Quidditch World Cup on the last day of term although he'd kept it a very private affair being so nervous that he couldn't stop his usually blue hair fading to a hot pink every time she spoke to him. Unfortunately, Victoire had taken the colour to be cockiness (though she couldn't exactly explain why) and thought he only wanted to go out with her for a laugh, instead of him desperately forcing himself not to fancy her on account of her being two years younger. His heart had eventually ruled over his head and he couldn't be more grateful.

What had transpired I will write down now for while not having any relevance to the present it will become useful in future- and this is as good place as any to put it.

_If Victoire Weasley was excited the first time she boarded the Hogwarts express it was peanuts compared to how she was feeling now. Louis and Dominique were bickering angrily next to her. They were in one of her Dad's cars, she forgot the make; she wasn't a cars kind of girl. Dominique's gesturing arms smacked into her unstopped ink pot, drenching her foot in ink. She sighed as she bent to pick it up and swore under her breath in French. They were her new tights!_

_"What was zat?" Despite living in England for more years now than she had in France, her mother, Fleur, still managed to retain her French accent._

_"Nothing ma mere."_

_When they got to King's cross station Victoire was more impatient than she'd ever been. Dominique was now in a sulk; apparently she'd lost whatever argument they were having. Normally Victoire would stay and cheer up her sister but as it was she hurried on to platform 9 and 3/4 with only a hurried goodbye to her siblings and a kiss on the cheek for her parents. She barely noticed the bustle in her eagerness to get on the train. She had just time to see the Potters make their way to her parents and Scorpius Malfoy with his eyes closed tightly before she swung herself onto the train._

_Dragging her heavy suitcase behind her she double, no triple, checked the note in her hand and made her way to the specified compartment._

_Teddy Lupin was standing with his back to her. Victoire bit her lip at how good he looked. Obviously his electric-blue hair stood out the most but it was his smile that Victoire really loved. When he turned round and gave her that smile, well, it was enough to make any girl's heart melt._

_"Victoire." Teddy had said her name many times but never like this; low, with an unspoken promise behind it. She shivered and blushed at her reaction. She had the unsettling feeling that someone was watching them but she pushed it to the back of her mind as Teddy's gentle hands cupped her cheeks. He leaned in and then they were kissing._

_"Finally!" Victoire groaned in her head, rather depressed at how much she'd missed this over the summer. Of course, they'd seen each other, but Bill Weasley had a knack for turning up at just the wrong moment. He toyed with the hem on her shirt, his other hand burying itself in her long hair, as she knotted hers round his neck._

_His hands slid down to her thighs as he pushed her up against the wall of the compartment, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, sighing his name contentedly._

_Sadly the moment only lasted for about a second as they were suddenly interrupted by a startled, familiar shout as James whipped off his invisibility cloak that Victoire really wished Uncle Harry hadn't given him._

_"Teddy?! What are you doing?!" Teddy pulled his mouth away from Victoire's to grin cheekily at James._

_"Why I've come to see her off of course. She is my girlfriend you know. Please go away." The two of them resumed kissing. James ran off, no doubt to tell the rest of the family. Teddy unwillingly broke the kiss and let go of her legs but stayed closer than personal space would usually allow. Victoire's eyelids fluttered open, her blonde eyelashes framing her big blue eyes._

_"Am I in trouble?"_

_"Yep," she replied. He kissed her again. After a few minutes Victoire broke away sighing._

_"Dad's probably going to kill you."_

_"Nah, Uncle Harry will stop him. Besides Bill likes me." He said confidently._

_"Ah, but you forget my Dad's half-wolf."_

_He just looked at her. "Yeah, so am I." She was about to protest so he carried on quickly. "And Uncle Harry is Harry Potter. He's the most famous wizard in history. I read somewhere that he's even more famous than Merlin!" Victoire raised her eyebrows at that and just happened to glance at her watch._

_"Merlin's b-" then with a smile, "Harry's_ Expelliarmus! _You better run Teddy; the train's about to leave!" Teddy was still chuckling at her new invention of a curse as he kissed her again and ducked out of the train compartment, a smile still plastered to his face. It would take a long time to wipe that smile off either of their faces. As the train left Teddy waltzed over to his God-father who was standing at the very end of the platform, Ginny next to him._

_Harry was still waving away the Hogwarts express, or more specifically, Albus and Rose's smiling faces. James was nowhere to be seen as per usual but Teddy knew he had made it onto the train; he had passed him on his way out. Harry's hand still lingered in the air as the train turned the corner and went out of sight._

_"He'll be alright." Ginny murmured to Harry as Teddy approached._

_"I know he will." Harry said confidently and dropped his hand, turning to see Teddy._

_"I think I could be falling in love with your niece. Do you mind?" Teddy phrased the question jokingly, but there was an undercurrent of seriousness in his tone. Harry grinned at him._

_"Congrats, you've finally come to your senses. Believe me I came very close to trying to knock some sense into you in recent years, you almost broke her heart when you went out with that girl, Susan was it? But I can hardly say anything. It took me a good five years to realise I was in love with this gorgeous witch." he said squeezing his wife's shoulders with his free hand._

_"Yeah," Ginny joked, "This idiot can face three-headed dogs, creepy Dementors and fight Voldemort a thousand times without an ounce of cowardice but it took him five years to work up the courage to ask me out. Which you did rather physically Mr Potter. I was totally unprepared to be snogged by the world's most famous wizard that day. I was only trying to give you a hug."_

_Harry just raised his eyebrows she elaborated, "Well I was hoping you were going to kiss me." When his eyebrows just rose higher she burst out laughing. "Ok, Ok! I knew you were going to kiss me! I just had to make sure Gryffindor was going to win." Harry leant down and pressed a kiss to her forehead smiling. A bewildered Teddy interrupted their moment._

_"What are you talking about?" Harry just shook his head grinning._

_"Victoire's really liked you since you were about seven." Ginny explained. "You forget how close the Weasley/Potter clan is. Anything Victoire tells Fleur is immediately gets passed down to everyone else for advice." Harry shrugged. It was true. He handed Teddy a battered book._

_"Here, Ron gave this to me for my birthday one year. He had a copy too, but I don't think he'll be passing it onto Hugo anytime soon. That is if Hermione hasn't confiscated it as unimportant because she needs more book space. It helped me and him a lot." Teddy took the book curiously. Ginny read the cover and doubled over laughing._

_"Please say you did not get any of our date ideas from there." Harry rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and Ginny sniggered even louder._

_"Harry?"_

_"Yeah Ted?"_

_"Can we go and see Grandma?" Harry's expression sobered slightly. Ginny laid a hand on his shoulder._

_"Go on- I'll take Lily back to Mum's."_

_"Ok." They waited until Ginny had disappeared after rest of their family before high-fiving. "It worked! She'd never have let me take you to the pub." The two men grinned and walked towards the barrier._

_"We'd better check on my Grandma on the way back though."_

_"We should at that."_

Albus picked up the hat and placed it on his head.

_My, my, my… Harry Potter's son. Choosing the house for your brother had been easy but I suspect that you won't be quite as simple to place. You are very alike your father you know- more so in character than looks. I see he told you of my wondering over Slytherin for him… He thought it was only the horcrux within him but in truth he could have done very well in Slytherin, although I think in the end the world benefitted much more from my final choice. Let's hope I make the right decision for you too._

"SLYTHERIN!" Albus was quite sure that the hat had never shouted so loud and also that the silence that had fallen after his announcement was unprecedented. Everyone seemed to freeze. Albus swept his gaze across the room- James looked horrified, Rose looked shocked but a smile was working its way onto her frozen face, the girl he had met on the boat looked confused, Julian seemed to be on the verge of laughing. To his surprise, the silence was broken by none other than Scorpius Malfoy who clapped as the rest of his table was supposed to do. He didn't look mocking, he actually looked friendly. Either way, Albus would much rather be sat near him when all the shouting broke out. He pulled the hat off his head, set it on the stool and walked hurriedly over to the Slytherin table, the shouts behind him climbing up until it was a tsunami crashing as he sat down.

He had never been more grateful to someone as he was to Professor Avisana right then.

"BE QUIET!" She thundered. The hall once again fell into stunned silence. She cleared her throat.

"Queshire, Maeve!"

"Gryffindor!" And that was that. Albus turned to Scorpius who was staring at him with raised eyebrows.

"What?"

"Welcome to Slytherin." He replied. Albus snorted.

"You've barely been sat here two minutes."

"Fair enough." Scorpius grinned and, just like that, a Potter and a Malfoy became best friends.

Lydjah looked at Jayna with a question in her gaze. Jayna shrugged. "Weird huh? Where's the food?" Lydjah let out a bark of laughter that was met with a stare of disapproval from the Charms teacher. As soon as he turned away Lydjah stuck her abnormally long tongue out at him. Jayna hid her smile in the palm of her hand.

"Do you ever think about anything other than food?" Jayna pretended to debate it for a moment.

"No."

"I knew there was a reason we became friends." Lydjah smiled.

"Yeah it was that and a joint obsession over Muggle fiction books." She said the word again without flinching and Lydjah hoped that maybe it would be a permanent change.

"True that."

"Have you finished Clockwork Princess yet?"

"I'm getting there!"

"You've been 'getting there' for a year now." Lydjah scowled.

"Well maybe if you hadn't told me that WILL DIES then I would have read it by now!"

"Sorry?"

"That is not a 'sorry' occasion! That is a beg for my forgiveness for weeks on end and buy me chocolates and flowers-"

"So basically you want me to become Rory." She said teasingly. Lydjah hit her on the shoulder.

"Can you not just let the poor guy forget it?"

"How can you let him? That was hilarious. 'Oh Lydjah- take me back! Forgive me! I bought you your favourite chocolate Lydjah! Do you remember when you ate it on our first date? Well it wasn't really a date it was me stalking you but true love knows no bounds-'" She was cut off as Lydjah hit her again.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" But she was laughing. "Oh that poor boy."

"Why did you let him follow you around?"

"Well… He did have nice taste in chocolate." That set them both off again.

 

Back on the Hufflepuff table Lien was inquiring as to why the school had expressed such shock over Albus' sorting.

"Well," began Henry nervously, "when I said that the Slytherins had a bad reputation I mean a really bad reputation. They have had, by far, the largest amount of dark students-"

"What's wrong with dark students?" Lien asked crossly. Julian and Henry both looked at her blankly. From the other side of the table a second year cut into their conversation with a laugh.

"He doesn't mean dark-skinned students, love, he means dark magic students." The two cousins snorted.

"Yeah don't worry Lien we have nothing against dark-skinned people." Lien blushed sheepishly. The second year shook his head. Lien noted that he was bloody attractive.

"I'm Arnold Macmillan by the way. Welcome to Hufflepuff." Lien smiled at him.

"Lien Irby."

"Anyway," continued Henry, the nervousness coming back into his voice, "to be put into Slytherin house… And being the son of Harry Potter… It's not a good sign." His explanation did not help Lien at all but she was, once again, distracted by the Sorting.

"Weasley, Molly!" Molly stepped forwards away from the other five people who were left and picked up the hat with more confidence than anyone else had so far. The hat slid over her short ginger hair until her eyes were no longer visible.

"Hufflepuff!" Molly beamed even before pulling off the hat and almost skipped over to the other Hufflepuff first years.

"Hello again."

"Hello yourself." Lien retorted, grinning. She scooted until there was enough space between her and Henry for Molly to sit down. Henry and Julian both nodded their head in greeting but had got into a rather energetic conversation with Arnold about Hogsmeade.

"I'm going to have to sit on James' head I do think." Molly began crossly.

"Why?"

"He's not happy with Albus being in Slytherin- he's going to cause all kinds of trouble."

"Weasley, Rose!"

Rose took two confident strides forwards being rather tall and placed the hat on her head. The hat didn't move for a very long time.

Albus looked at Scorpius interestedly. "So Scorpius, exactly how long have you been in love with my cousin?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Scorpius started, finally looking away from Rose's Sorting. Albus burst out laughing, missing the evident panic in Scorpius' voice.

"I was joking Scorp," Scorpius raised his eyebrows imperceptibly at the new nickname- he found that he rather liked it, "you just looked to be day-dreaming."

"Yeah. I was just thinking- the castle so much more amazing in person, right?" He invented quickly, his lie smooth. Albus chattered on happily about how amazing it was so that Scorpius could tune him out and tune back into Rose.

"Gryffindor!" Scorpius felt a sinking in his stomach, like a comfortable weight had dropped leaving him free… But empty.

"Weasley, Roxanne!" The third to last student twirled her wand in her fingers as she put on the hat her cousin had just vacated but she needn't have bothered with the bravado as it sorted her just as quickly as it had sorted Scorpius.

"Gryffindor!"

"Yoxall, Flynn!"

"Gryffindor!"

"Zabini, Elsa!"

"Slytherin!"

Before Elsa had even finished getting to the table Professor Avisana had rolled up her scroll of names and taken the hat and stool out of the way. The older woman at the head of the teacher's seats stood and walked to the golden podium in the centre.

"Who's that?" Lien asked quietly.

"Professor Vector. She's the headmistress. She's new- Professor McGonagall retired at the end of last year."

"Oh."

"I know you're all anxious to dig into your food so I will say only this. First years, and anyone else who feels that they need reminding, the Forbidden Forest has been named so for a reason- stay out of it. Due to an unfortunate potion explosion the first floor corridor will be restricted until further notice."

James and Sam high-fived covertly under the table.

"You still going out with Andrews, Potter?"

"Are you joking?" James asked incredulously. "Sam, no offence, but ew dude! She's like my sister!" Ned Stoker looked humorously at them.

"I was actually but I'm sure she appreciates that." James winced turning to his best friend. She shrugged.

"Why would I care that James doesn't want to go out with me? I agree with him- I'm like his sister." Both boys looked suspiciously at her.

"Are you trying to do that obscure girl thing?"

"What obscure girl thing?"

"I don't know! It doesn't make sense to me!"

"Then how am I supposed to know?!"

"Well most girls would take that offensively." Ned butted in helpfully. Sam shrugged again, taking a bite of an apple.

"Sorry about the cliché- but I'm not most girls."

"Enjoy!" concluded the Headmistress. As soon as she finished the tables lit up with plates upon plates of food and the students happily piled up their plates. Lien looked hesitantly at it.

"Are you sure it's safe to eat?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Henry snorted, his mouth full of food. Lien kindly kept her expression neutral.

"Well it did just appear out of thin air." Both wizards, having been used to such things happening for most of their lives, shrugged. Lien rolled her eyes but took some food seeing as it didn't seem to be affecting anyone yet and to be honest; it looked too good not to.


	6. Of Hexing Ravenclaws and Why It Is Generally A Bad Idea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't attack defenceless first years no matter how rude they are. However, Jayna's totally gonna do that

Lydjah and Jayna grinned happily at each other as their pudding appeared in front of them. "Dare you to drink a whole goblet of Pumpkin Juice in one go?" Lydjah asked.

"Lyd-Jah!" She drew out the syllables of Lydjah's name, a nickname of a sort. "I have a _reputation_ to uphold."

"Yeah; that you can never resist a dare, especially if it involves food." Jayna gave her a measured stare and then shrugged, acknowledging the truth.

"Hey, kid, can you pass the Pumpkin Juice?" The first-year she nudged looked up at her, terrified. "What is it kid?" Her voice softened and Lydjah hid a smirk. Jayna might have succeeded in terrifying Lien and Molly but she never could resist helping younger children.

"Aren't you Jayna Blackwood?" Jayna stiffened.

"Does it affect your ability to pass Pumpkin Juice?"

"That depends on your answer." To her surprise, despite the girl's terror, there was a strong force of will behind it.

"And if I answer yes?"

"Then I would hope that you and your entire family rot in Hell." Jayna raised her eyebrows.

"Wow. You could have just said no." Lydjah tried to hold in a laugh because it really wasn't funny but… The fact that she knew Jayna was actually hurt by that kid's comment but was just hiding it well stopped her. "And, have you not been reading the papers? Most of them are already there."

The group around them froze. Lydjah glared at each of them in turn until they all turned away blushing, evidently they had all been listening to the confrontation. The younger girl looked defiant, but some of her bravado was leaving.

"It's Kira, isn't it?" The girl started. "Kira Pemberly… I never forget a face. Didn't you know it's bad luck to speak ill of the deceased? I think I'll risk it in saying that your mother was a… How do I put this nicely? Hmm.. What about… A slut. Your father is a drunk, your sister got knocked up by a knife-wielding muggle and her child looks like Hinkypunk." Kira looked murderous. The two glared at each other, both refusing to look away.

"Girls is there a problem?" Professor Jordan, Head of Ravenclaw house spoke up from behind Kira. Jayna's expression changed from darkly triumphant to perfect schoolgirl in two seconds flat.

"Not at all Professor, I was just telling, Kira is it? About how wonderful our Common-Room is." The Professor smiled, already won over by one of her favourite students.

"Good. Although, I think that conversation may be better continued on your way up to the Common-Room itself- everyone else has already left." The three of them looked up and sure enough the Hall was mainly deserted. They all stood up hastily and walked out of the corridor. Jayna started at a brisk pace meaning Lydjah had to hurry to keep up with her, Kira nowhere to be seen.

"Jayna-"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Well I do! All those things you said, while I'm not denying them, although you know that Julia Pemberly's daughter is the cutest baby ever seen; you should not have said. What happened to not sinking to their level?"

"What happened to not taking everyone's crap?" Lydjah frowned.

"There is a line Jayna and you definitely crossed it just then."

"Well, what do you want me to do? Apologise to the kid?" Lydjah looked at her expectantly. "No. No Lydjah! I'm not-"

 

"Kira!"

"What do you want now?" Jayna swallowed her pride with difficulty, mentally cursing Lydjah with all hexes and jinxes she knew.

"To apologise."

"What?!" Jayna made a frustrated noise, turning and glaring at the wall behind her. Kira couldn't see anything there but Jayna knew that Lydjah was lurking there with a smirk on her face.

"I said; to apologise. I shouldn't have said that. Your mother wasn't a slut… I mean she slept around a bit," Jayna could almost see Lydjah's 'give me strength' look, "but she was always perfectly civil to me. Your father-"

"Is an alcoholic?"

"Well yes but he's also a pretty good Auror. And your sister's baby is the cutest child ever seen. I'm sorry." For a few seconds Kira looked genuinely surprised. Then she glared.

"I'm not taking back what I said- I meant it." Jayna opened her mouth but then closed it without saying a word and turned away. " _Densaugeo_!" Kira yelled, her wand pointed at Jayna's back. Nothing happened.

Jayna turned; a snarl of a grin on her face. "I don't think, little first year, that you know how to do magic yet. Let me teach you." Kira looked terrified but she stood, frozen to the spot as Jayna twirled her wand in her hand. " _Engorgio Skullus_!" Jayna's rather formidable wand pointed directly at Kira's already large head. Her head swelled until it was the size of a bowling ball. Lydjah darted into the corridor and grabbed her furious friend's hand, pulling her around the corner and out of sight. They ran through the corridors until they reached the winding staircase that lead up to their Common-Room door.

The door was simple dark brown oak and on it was a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle-(which can 'Soar where others cannot climb') enchanted to ask the user a question to prove their Ravenclaw status. Although, a lot of the time, the questions were too hard for one Ravenclaw alone and there ended up being about twenty stuck outside all trying to answer the question; not so good if you had just forgotten your quill before class. The windows showed the lake, the forest, the Quidditch pitch and the Herbology gardens. Ravenclaw tower had the best view.

"I'm sorry Lydjah, I tried." She hiccupped.

"I would have hexed her too don't worry."

"Where on earth did she learn a spell like Densaugeo?"

"Her sister probably, or maybe her dad."

"Hmm yeah."

"Ready for the philosophical question of the day?"

"Definitely- it's always easy on the first day back for the first years."

"Jayna; we've only been here a year." Jayna shrugged.

"You know it's true."

"Fine." She walked up to the door, Jayna following slowly behind her, still out of breath. The eagle's beak opened and asked a question.

"What can you catch but not throw?" Lydjah frowned but a second later a smile was forming on the corner of her lips.

"A cold."

"Correct." The door swung open and the two second years stepped inside.

"Jayna!" Seraphina Miller, the Head Girl and fellow Ravenclaw called over to her as they stepped into the Common-Room. "Have you seen a 'Kira Pemberly'? She didn't follow after dinner." Seraphina was an excellent Head Girl; she excelled in her studies, always had time for other people and participated in almost all extra-curricular activities available. She had horrible taste in food and men, but we'll get to that later.

"She's gone to the Hospital Wing; tried to use magic and ended up enlarging her head rather disastrously." Jayna responded in an undertone.

"Poor her. Thanks."

"No problem."

Jayna and Lydjah both let out identical sighs of happiness at the sight of their Common-Room. The circular room was already filled with milling people. There was Patrick Patil with his multi-coloured hat that he refused to take off and Kai Garcia dropping Gobstones into a cup and recording how long it took them to fall. The arched windows displayed the view even more brilliantly and the dark blue and bronze walls were comforting. Home.

Lydjah gestured to the two steps that led to their dormitory. "Wait; it hasn't changed has it?"

"No; we keep the same dormitories till we leave remember? The same turret."

"Oh yeah."

"Come on; I want to see if they've replaced the eiderdowns."

"Well it's not my fault they burnt."

"How was it not your fault? You set them on fire Lydjah! What did you think Incendio was going to do?"

"I don't know; I was bored." She laughed and they both walked into their dormitory where, indeed, the sky blue silk eiderdowns on their four-poster beds had been replaced. Their trunks stood neatly by their beds.

"Hey, Jayna?" Jayna turned to face Lee Wright, another second year girl who shared their dormitory. Lee was originally from Africa, and spoke fluent Swahili. Her hair was constantly shaved to a buzz cut, and although the teacher's disapproved, she had an eyebrow-ring that she had to take out for lessons. Really she tried to get away with wearing as little of the regulation uniform as possible. Right then she was wearing the sleeveless Ravenclaw jumper without a shirt and her school shoes; knee-high lace-up brown leather boots were so far from the mandatory black pumps that Jayna was surprised she had yet to get a detention. She was undoubtedly going to be put on the Quidditch team at some point. Most people thought the Hat had made a mistake putting Lee in Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor but Lydjah was painfully aware of her fantastic quirky thinking in practical situations; should you ever need to come up with a plan that no-one else would think possible; Lee was the one to ask. Despite their obvious differences, they both considered Lee as a friend, or at least an ally against the other two in their dorm.

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry about your family." Lydjah braced herself for the sure-to-come outburst but all that happened was Jayna's sad smile.

"Thanks."

"What happened?" Riley Skeeter looked expectantly at Jayna and although there was not a quill in her hand you could see she was mentally taking notes for her horrendous school newspaper.

"I'm sorry Skeeter but I really don't think that's any of your business." Jayna said curtly.

"Is it true that you were with them when they died?" Riley's best friend, appropriately, and hilariously, named Paige Turner, completed the five. Jayna raised an eyebrow.

"I think, Turner, you're going to need to go to the Hospital wing in a minute."

"Why?"

"Because I am going to hex you so severely your ears will fall off and I do think that's one for Madam Longbottom, don't you?" They got the message. Jayna dragged her trunk onto the bed and then began unpacking.

"You're going to unpack now?"

"As opposed to…?"

"Playing a game of Wizard's Chess?"

"They need to rename it Magical Chess or something." Jayna frowned but she had already stopped unfolding her shirts. "Just one game."


	7. Of The Protected House and Being Vertically Challenged

Lien looked up at the prefect at the head of her table as he spoke. He was a spindly sort of fellow, lank hair, sharp nose and smiling eyes.

"First years- come with me- I'll show you to the Common-Room. My name is Atticus Truman and I'm a sixth-year Prefect. If you have any questions please feel free to ask." Lien stood, cramming one last bite of the delicious chocolate mousse into her mouth before she had to leave. As soon as she stepped off the bench the food on her plate disappeared- as well as the plate. She walked over to Atticus, Molly on her heels.

"Do you know where the Hufflepuff Common-Room is?" Molly shook her head.

"I know where Gryffindor's is and I know where Ravenclaw tower is and I know where the dungeons that somewhere lead to Slytherin are but I have no idea about Hufflepuff other than it's probably close to the ground."

"Why the ground?"

"The emblem is a Badger- apparently we're docile until someone tries to attack us and then ferocious and scary. Colours are yellow and black… Makes sense that we'd be underground."

"Correct Weasley." Atticus called loudly. The group of first years all turned to them. Molly blushed as bright as her hair. "To continue on what she said," Atticus began as he started to lead them out of the Hall, "Our house ghost is the Fat Friar, the friendliest of all the ghosts. He's plump and wears monks robes- and he's really helpful if you're lost or in trouble. We have produced the fewest Dark Wizards, then Gryffindor then Ravenclaw and then Slytherin. We get along well with the Gryffindors, and relatively ok with the Slytherins but the Ravenclaws openly dislike our honourable loyalty to each other over competition between test scores. We are often underestimated by the other houses but do not let them get to you- Hufflepuff is the least boastful house, not the least intelligent."

They arrived at a long corridor from which heavenly smells assaulted their noses. "Hey. This is the corridor to the Kitchens!"

"Correct again Weasley." Molly wanted to internally combust.

"If you look to the right here you'll see a nook." He waited as the murmurs of agreement travelled across the whole group. "Now, the other houses boast of their security measures but no-one has been inside Hufflepuff Common-Room except the Hufflepuffs in the entirety of Hogwarts History."

"I seriously doubt it." Lien whispered.

"What do you mean?"

"You think that none of these Hufflepuffs have ever invited someone back to bed with them, ever?" Molly looked shocked. "Oh please don't tell me the Wizarding World has 19th Century values as well as lighting." Molly giggled.

"No- I just hadn't thought of that."

"Anyway, the way to get into our Common-Room is in that nook. There is a stack of barrels. Tap the barrel two from the bottom, in the middle of the second row, in the rhythm of 'Hel-Ga Huff-Le-Puff' and the barrel will open. If you tap the wrong barrel or to the wrong rhythm, you will be drenched in vinegar which I assume is unpleasant."

The Hufflepuffs all looked about ten times less excited now. "Once the barrel opens climb inside-"

"I'm sorry- climb inside the _barrel_?" One of them piped up from the back.

"I assure you it's plenty large enough."

"But very undignified." Lien muttered.

"Yes, climb inside and along the passageway. When you reach the end you will come into the cosiest Common-Room of them all. It's round, earthy and low ceilinged," Lien quickly checked around and found, sure enough, that Julian was around the tallest in the group and he was still below average height. Everyone in Hufflepuff seemed to never want to leave the ground. "It always feels sunny and the circular windows have the view of green grass and dandelions. There is a lot of burnished copper around and lots of plants as a donation from the Herbology teacher, Neville Longbottom. Our head of House is Professor Caden Rossesson who is the Charms teacher. His office is always open if you have a problem. He has also Charmed some of the plants to give helpful advice or to sing and dance. We have many large overstuffed sofas that make studying ten times easier. You reach your dormitories through the circular doors going out of the Common-Room and they're all marked with a year number. To avoid mass unwanted introduction to vinegar it would be best if you could form an orderly queue behind me." He finished warmly and Lien hastened to follow his instruction.

She and Molly ended up being quite close to the front though Julian and Henry were lost at the back. As they went under the nook Atticus stood to the side watching carefully as each of the Hufflepuffs tapped the barrel and crawled inside. Surprisingly, no-one before them made a mistake and when it was Lien's turn she managed it without getting drenched.

The Common-Room already felt warm and sunny even as the rain pelted the windows from outside. She followed the rest of the first years through the door labelled '1' and then led Molly and the girls behind her into the 'Girls' room. Six four-poster beds lined the circular room all of which were covered in warm patchwork quilts and bathed in orangey-yellow light from the copper lamps above. Coupled with the lights, copper bed warmers hung on the walls and Lien had a feeling they'd come in handy when the winter settled in. Her trunk was stood in the middle of the room.

Lien and Molly grabbed the beds closest to the adjacent bathroom and then got their trunks. On their beds rested a brand new yellow and black tie with the Hufflepuff emblem on the end. Lien smiled as she tugged it round her neck, proud to be a member of Hufflepuff house even if she still wasn't sure she was pronouncing it right.


	8. Of The Gryffindor Dormitories, Or, More Specifically, The Gryffindors In Them

Sam Andrews' best friend was James. Sam spent all of her free time with James. Sam had absolutely no interest in seeing him without clothes but was perfectly comfortable when he didn't have any on too, not that the occasion had happened more than once; when she'd charged up to the boy's dormitories at the wrong moment in July had been the only time she'd seen that particular part of his anatomy.

So she saw no reason why she had to be stuck in a room full of giggling, perfume-squirting, boy-hungry ( _James_ -hungry in particular), ridiculous girls. It wasn't that all of them were horrible people; none of them were really. It's just that they weren't like her. And she swore if one more pleading Gryffindor asked her how to get with James she was going to… Give them some really good advice?

"For Merlin's sake Sally; mention that you're interested- no, not in a hint; he won't get it- look pretty and he'll ask you out." The sad thing was that it was true; James would go out with anyone who flashed him a smile really. It was how their friendship had started after all; he'd asked her out, she'd punched him and they'd both hexed a Slytherin who had the audacity to ask if it was a lover's tiff with a superior voice. She'd sat with him as Madam Longbottom had fixed his bloodied nose and hadn't really left his side since.

She'd been disappointed that even in a completely different society that had magic for Merlin's sake (not to mention new curse words) that she still didn't fit in with the other girls. Not that disappointed, because she had James, but it was still depressing that after she left the Common-Room in the evening she knew she wouldn't speak, or at least she wouldn't speak to someone she wanted to speak to, until the morning.

Her and James were popular and they knew it; the two of them together had quickly caught the attention of everyone in the school for their infamous pranks, 'strange' friendship and, of course, for James' last name. They were admired but she wasn't exactly chummy with all of them. James had made her a bit more friendly out of necessity because he insisted on talking to everyone they passed in the corridors but she wasn't exactly used to being adored.

In primary school she'd got into trouble for fighting all the time. Sometimes it was to protect the little kids (her sister Hayden in particular, who hadn't appreciated the effort); she hadn't exactly grown up in the nicest area, and sometimes it was to protect herself, but most of the time it was for no reason other than the Hell of it. She loved the adrenaline that pumped through her veins in a fight, had got used to the metallic taste of blood on her lips and smiled at the pain in her knuckles that meant she'd landed a solid punch.

Her mother had been beside herself, desperate for Sam to show even a little bit of decorum or girly-ness, but Sam had not indulged her and eventually she'd given up which had resulted in a much closer relationship between them.

Sally wailed at Sam's idea. "But I'm not pretty!" Sam resisted the urge to slap her.

"Not my problem." Josie shot her a scathing look as Sally's expression fell even further and dragged her friend away from the bed.

"Sally of course you're pretty, have you seen yourself?" Sam had to grudgingly admit that Josie was right- when Sally wasn't screaming she was quite the stunner ('stunner' had become Sam's new favourite description for a good-looking person on account of stupefy being an actual thing). "But James Potter isn't worth all this fuss-" Her comment was met with an outcry of incredulity from the others (excluding Sam) in the dormitory.

"Not worth the fuss?!" Olivia Ianson's high pitched voice made Sam really wish she'd learnt the silencing hex before they'd gone back to school. She drew her bed hangings shut with a groan and put her head under her pillow but it was to no avail because the squeals could be heard from the boys dormitories (although they couldn't make out what the squeals meant). She gave up and peeked her head back out of the curtains.

"What about his hair?" Isla Odell asked confused. Out of the other five girls that inhabited her dormitory, Isla was the one she liked the most, possibly because she was the only one that didn't shriek or squeal. She was still as bad as the rest of them, still as girly, but at least she kept her voice at a pitch that normal humans could hear, not just dogs.

"Exactly!" Violet Queen's remark was punctuated by the flinging of her hairbrush as she stood away from the mirror for once. "And his eyes! They're so dreamy." She looked curiously to see where her hairbrush had landed and her eyes widened as she caught sight of Sam's angry blotchy face and the hairbrush-shaped red mark that was beginning to bruise on her cheek. "Sami! I'm so sorr-"

"It's _Sam_! How many times do I have to tell you- it's fucking _Sam_! I don't care how bloody _dreamy_ you think my best friend's eyes are; if you don't all start speaking at a reasonable volume I am going to tell him exactly how much you fawn all over him!" Four of the girls gasped in horror; Josie merely looked annoyed. Sam studied her more closely, trying to think of what had changed Josie's mind on giggling about James this year. Then she remembered the July of last year with the disastrous pudding incident… Sam was rather glad Josie didn't know it was her who had dolloped that cream pie all over her hair. She should have known better than to steal all of James' time away from pranks and so Sam had to teach her a lesson. Sure girlfriends were important, but best friends were more so and Sam had yet to meet a girl James would go out with that she liked.

"You wouldn't!"

"Fucking try me. Good night." And with that Sam drew her bed-hangings again and took the momentary lapse in squealing to fall asleep.

 

James Potter's best friend was Sam. James spent all of his free time with Sam. James had absolutely no interest in seeing her without clothes but was perfectly comfortable when she didn't have any on too; that time over the summer when they'd just had a water fight and she'd stripped off hadn't bothered him in the slightest though he was sure Albus still blushed whenever he saw her.

So James was disgruntled that Sam wasn't allowed in his dormitory even though all the other boys had pronounced her 'one of the guys'. It wasn't as if they were oblivious to Sam's looks like James now was, Ned Stoker had gone out with her briefly last year after all, but that they enjoyed her company much more than the potential romance, especially as they knew all they'd end up with was a flattened ego and a broken nose.

Not that James didn't like the boys in his dormitory; he thought they were all pretty great to be honest, although if Ned made one more remark about how hot Sam was James was going to lose it.

"I thought you said you didn't see her like that anymore." James snapped crossly.

"Ooh jealous are we Potter?" James took back his earlier sentiment; he liked all the boys in his dormitory except Max Underwood.

" _No_ ; just confused."

"Don't worry your head pretty boy," Ned said, laughing as he tousled James' hair and the Chosen one's son started to the mirror in horror of what he'd done to his precious locks, "I have no intention of asking out Andrews. I just think she's hot is all." The other four boys murmured their agreement. "I mean you hang round with her all day; surely you've noticed." James shrugged.

"She's not my type." The four boys chortled.

"You 'ave a type?" Owen Xylander asked. He was half-dutch half-english but had lived in the Netherlands until the year before. He'd lost most of his accent but still had a tendency to drop his 'h's. James narrowed his eyes but couldn't help the smile that turned the corners of his lips.

"Yes I do thank you very much. It's called 'All girls except Slytherins and Sam'." Quinn threw a pillow at him at this statement.

"You went out with a Slytherin last year, you dolt."

"Did I?" Asked James absent-mindedly. "Ok, all girls except Sam and less than unreasonably hot Slytherins." He grinned. "Oh and Lee." He added as an afterthought.

"What's wrong with Lee?" Owen asked.

"Who's Lee?" Max asked.

"Lee Wright? Ravenclaw? And, well, other than the fact that she beats for the other team, not much." Owen frowned for a moment and then he blinked.

"Oh." James threw the pillow back hitting Max square in the jaw, by accident of course, which started a huge pillow fight that lasted until they heard the familiar shriek that meant the girls were talking about James again. James perked up as he heard Sam's voice that meant she'd finally snapped (like she always did) but he could only catch a few words.

"It's _Sam_!... Fucking… _Dreamy_ … Best friend's eyes… Reasonable volume… All over him!" James smirked and resolved to ask about it later. Of course, he could get up to the girls' dormitories (who knew that if one of the girls kept skin contact with you while you're riding a broomstick upside-down (he didn't know if that particular bit was necessary but it just so happened to be how he was riding it at the time) all the way up the staircase it doesn't turn into a slide?) but he liked to keep it a secret.

He was used to living with boys because no matter where he was he was always either with Ned, Max, Owen and Quinn or he was at his house in Godric's Hollow with Al-

He tried to cut off the bitter feeling that swelled when he thought of his brother. It didn't work. Al was supposed to be downstairs in the Common-Room, begging for James to show him how to open the wardrobes upstairs (it had taken the now second-years two months). Instead he was somewhere in the depths of the dungeons in some slimy dark _green_ dormitory with Scorpius fucking _Malfoy_. Why was he a Slytherin? The exact opposite of everything his dad had stood for. Did none of that matter to Albus? Or had his middle name always defined him?

There was a twinge at the back of his head reminding him of Merlin, Regulus Black and Andromeda Tonks but he ignored it, instead focusing on the figures that had ripped away his paternal grandparents and all of his father's parental figures. He felt an ache sometimes when he thought of them- his namesakes and Lily and Albus' first names- of just how upset he was that he never met them. He'd never met Teddy's parents either, but more importantly Teddy hadn't really. Every time he thought that he had to glance at his bedside table where the two small inconspicuous photos of his family were placed, just to remind himself that his parents were fine. One was of the five of them, taken the summer before he joined Hogwarts, and the other was of the DA when his father and mother were still in school. When he was away from home he liked to remember his family like this; imagining all their adventures, instead of their present selves as he knew them, because he found he didn't miss them quite as much when he thought of their younger selves.

Why was Albus a Slytherin? Or, more importantly, why had he picked that over James?


	9. Of Becoming a Slytherin and Unlikely Allies

Albus stood in his dormitory with a grin on his face. He'd always liked the colour green. He double checked the noticeboard for the password he had been told changed every fortnight. Their ancient four-poster beds made with spiralling ivory metal and green silk hangings looked far cooler than his bed at home. The tapestries covering the walls needed studying but preferably when there was no-one else around to distract him. He jumped onto his silver-threaded bed covers with a sigh of contentment, Scorpius following his lead. They both turned to watch the dark water lapping against the windows as the giant squid swam past as it had done three times already.

"You're Albus Potter, right?" Jack Coleman asked, coming into the room. Albus felt his good mood start to evaporate. There were five of them in their dorm; himself, Scorpius, Jack, Michael Dabney and Sawyer Ikin (his name made Albus feel slightly better about his own). The other two he'd only met in passing before they'd disappeared off to the Common-Room but Jack just gave the impression of someone you _really_ didn't want to be friends with.

"Yeah."

"Professor Slughorn wants to see you." Albus frowned worriedly.

"Where is he?"

"The Potions classroom dumbass." Jack snorted. Albus rolled his eyes, thinking that it had been a pretty valid question.

"I'll come with you; I needed to ask him something anyway." Scorpius said casually. Jack scowled.

"Why are you hanging out with a Potter, _Malfoy_? Didn't they screw up your family's life?"

"Actually I'm pretty sure my family screwed up my family's life." Scorpius replied coolly.

"And what; this is your act of penance?"

"No this is me looking around and seeing one person who looked vaguely decent in this dormitory and it definitely wasn't you." Jack glared.

"You're going to regret saying that Malfoy." He pulled out his wand. Albus began to laugh.

"And you know how many spells right now Jack? Put it down before you embarrass yourself." The two of them walked out into the common-room both giving each other a hearty high five that they quickly hid from all the scary-looking Slytherins. Albus really hoped their seventh year prefect, Rosamund Farley, hadn't been lying when she said they all thought of each other as siblings because otherwise he was going to be in trouble.

"Albus Potter!" Albus turned as Cara Blackwood strode over to him. She was a fourth-year, average height with just past shoulder-length golden-brown hair and guarded greeny-blue eyes. It wasn't her appearance that showed her up as a Pureblood, more the way she strode across the room with undeniable determination and yet managed to look so effortlessly graceful, something her sister had never quite learnt how to do (she'd got the determination bit down to a point but 'graceful' and 'Jayna' were not words often used in the same sentence). "It was a surprise to see you here, but a welcome one I think. Please do stay away from that short Hufflepuff girl though; all she seems to be doing is getting my sister in trouble." Albus shrugged.

"Fine by me, though I will have to talk to my cousin at some point you know, and she seems to be pretty close to her." Cara looked, instead of pissed off as he feared, appraising.

"Welcome to Slytherin." Then she turned away and went back to her friends. Scorpius and Albus continued until they had left the room.

"What was that about?" Scorpius asked.

"I don't know… People have been saying she may have gone a little funny in the head after, you know, this summer." Scorpius stiffened slightly but Albus didn't notice.

"I think Jayna is the one who has more right to go mental to be honest."

"True but did you see the photos of the funeral- oh of course you did you were there. Jayna looked… Not happy exactly but liberated." Albus argued.

"Yeah I think the only deaths she was really upset about was her immediate families'."

"Well you can understand why."

"Yes, but Cara seems to have taken it really badly." Scorpius mulled.

"What do you mean?"

"She's on a bit of a muggle-hating spree at the moment."

"That's probably why she didn't want me near Lien."

"Who's Lien?"

"This Muggle-born Hufflepuff girl I sat with on the boat over."

"Is she cute?" Albus grinned.

"Maybe."

"Then ignore Cara."

"She doesn't seem to like me much though."

"Who, Cara?"

"No, Lien."

"Tough luck."

"Yeah." They arrived at Slughorn's office. He knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Albus and Scorpius entered.

"Ah, boys, just the people I wanted to see!" Their head of house boomed.

"I'd like to formally invite both of you to join my Slug Club, of course I had just invited Albus but if you're here I can invite both at the same time!"

"Why didn't you just send for both of us?" Albus asked curiously.

"Well," said Slughorn delicately, "I didn't wish for the two of you to be… At odds in my office."

"Oh."

"Don't worry about it sir," Scorpius cut in, "Albus and I aren't about to start duelling in your classroom."

"Good news, that's good news, ma boy!" They both smiled awkwardly. "I'll be sending a letter with the first date as soon as I have it; I look forward to seeing you there." The two Slytherins backed away slowly until they were out of the room.

"I really don't want to go."

"Hey, my dad says there's good food."

"Your dad went?"

"Harry Potter? Yes." Albus said smugly. Scorpius punched him lightly in the arm so that Albus ended up hitting the side of the wall.

"Fair point."

"Actually; my mum went too." Albus added.

"Cool. My dad was asked but he never went."

"Shame, I hear the cake is delicious."

"Well I'll go once for the food."

They said the password to the concealed entrance and once again stepped inside their Common-Room.

" _Expelliarmus_!" Scorpius' wand went flying out of his reach. Immediately the Common-Room fell into silence and then, one by one, all the Slytherins came to stand behind Scorpius and Albus, away from Jack Coleman. One of them passed his wand back to him. Jack staggered back as if he had been hit by a spell himself.

"Ben?" Ben Coleman, from behind Albus glared at his younger brother.

"What the Hell are you doing Jack?"

"I don't…" The younger Slytherin flinched and then spun on his heel and sped back to the dormitory. Albus couldn't help but laugh and the rest of the Slytherins joined in.

"Thanks!" Called Scorpius loudly as they returned to their dormitory leaving the assembled mass of Slytherins chuckling behind them.

"Welcome to Slytherin indeed."


	10. Of Oversleeping and the First Class

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys the site crashed on me yesterday so I'm a day out. Enjoy! :)

As Lien and Molly hurried down to breakfast, being as late as they were, Lien reflected on the night's sleep she'd just had. It had been probably the best she'd ever had, too good actually, as they were severely late for breakfast. The weekend before classes had passed with no further problems; Lien had been introduced to Wizards Chess, Exploding Snap and Puking Pastilles (preparation for classes).

"I'm annoyed that none of the other girls woke us up." Molly huffed. The four other girls from their room had introduced themselves as; Rosie Mumps, who was a Half-Blood girl with plain features and a kind smile, Isabella Burke, a brunette Pureblood, Abigail Long, a currently green-haired metamorphmagus and Daisy Shafiq whom was actually not yet at the school on account of having Scrofungulus, but had been sorted by the Hat when Professor Vector brought it to her house.

"Yeah; though to be fair they probably did want to get their timetables."

"Oh thanks for reminding me." They finally got into the Great Hall, whizzing over to where Professor Rosseson was handing out timetables.

"Lien Irby?"

"Here!" She panted, waving her hand tiredly. The Charms teacher smiled kindly.

"Don't worry; you have me first." Lien looked at the timetable in her hand, and, finding this to be true, sat down to get some food and study it before class. She had Charms first on the second floor in 2E, then Transfiguration a floor below in 1B- Wait.

"Molly?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it just me or are we wearing the exact same outfit?" Molly glanced at her, then down at herself, and then burst out laughing, Lien joining in a second later. It was exactly the same, down to the funky Hufflepuff colour checked skirts and yellow-striped blouses that everyone else thought were a fashion disaster. (Lien had noted Jayna's affinity for wearing mismatched brightly coloured socks (something, although Lien didn't know it, that was one of only three characteristics the Blackwood sisters shared, the other two being their nose and their love for scarves), which really didn't seem to fit with her personality, but she thought her skirt, and apparently Molly's, blew that out of the water).

"Lien!" Lydjah grabbed her shoulder from behind.

"Yeah?" Lien asked as she tore her eyes away from the timetable.

"Where on earth were you? I've been looking for you for ages-" Lydjah looked around at the mostly empty tables and then down at her watch. "Shit! I'm sorry I'll have to tell you at lunch… Just meet me- on your own- in the courtyard ok?" Before Lien could speak Lydjah was gone, shouting at the top of her lungs, "JAYNA IVONNE FUCKING BLACKWOOD YOU SAID YOU WOULD WAIT FOR ME YOU LITTLE BITCH!"

Lien laughed as Lydjah's long hair disappeared through the double doors in a whirl of… Well hair. She stood, dragging Molly away from her croissant with difficulty, and jogged to Charms, for once the moving staircases not causing them any trouble. They were still at the back of the group of milling first years though and ended up near the front of the classroom. The Hufflepuffs seemed to have taken mostly the right side of the classroom away from the Ravenclaws so Molly shrugged and took the front right desk, Lien opting to take the vacant one behind her.

Their teacher, and Head of House, read the register in a straight-forward but smiling manner but despite his clear pronunciation Lien doubted she'd learnt any new names. He was tall and had sandy-blonde hair. He couldn't have been much older than thirty and Lien summarised he must be relatively new to the position. "Charms is a compulsory subject that you will be taking for at least the next five years. It requires delicacy and a determined state of mind as well as consistent hard-work." The Charms professor managed to fix every single person with a hard stare. "For example; _Avifors_!" He pointed his wand at a book lying on his desk and a flash of vivid blue light concealed it from view. From it a flock of beautiful white doves sprung into the air, the book no-where to be seen. Professor Rosseson waved his wand happily and the birds followed its movement much to the awe of his students until he reluctantly opened the window and directed them out.

"Not to be confused with Avis which conjures a flock of birds from the end of your wand tip; it does not do any transformation. You will be learning this charm later in the year. For now we will begin with the incantation 'Winguardium Leviosa' which levitates your target; the feathers on your desk, which you should not be fiddling with Mr Arnton," Henry dropped the feather like it had burnt him (it hadn't), "at the casters will. I will write the charm phonetically on the board in front of you. Wands out please." As the class bent to get their wands the teacher wrote the words on the board.

"The wand movement is swish and flick like so." He demonstrated, and elegant arch followed by a quick flick of the wrist, neither movement stretching above the elbow. "Repeat after me; Winguardium Leviosa!"

"Winguardium Leviosa!" The class chanted dutifully with varying degrees of success. Lien was the only one that tried the movement as well. They carried on doing this until he was satisfied.

"I will be highly surprised if any of you manage it in this lesson so don't worry; we will be studying it for the next two. I'm afraid I cannot let you take the feathers to practice with, so after this lesson is finished your homework for Wednesday is to have read the first chapter of Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling, which you all should have a copy of as it was on your requirements list. Continue!" He went to sit by his desk and appeared lost in paperwork, something that was quite surprising considering their classes had only started today and they were his first class.

The wand-waving continued with no new developments except Julian accidentally poking Isabella in the eye with his wand doing a rather vigorous arm motion, until the bell rang signalling the end of class. Professor Rosseson dismissed them with a cheery wave of his hand and the two houses went their separate ways.


	11. Of James Potter vs "Feminism"

They reached the staircase with no difficulty but had all forgotten about half the first floor being roped off. With a rather exaggerated sigh the Hufflepuffs collectively turned and went back down the second floor corridor to find another set of stairs that was more directly above classroom 1B.

"Ah there you are!" Called Professor Jordan as they neared the top of the staircase. "I'm afraid it may be a few moments before the staircases can be moved back." The Hufflepuffs all turned to see the other end of the school where all 142 staircases had been stacked on top of one another. Not just the moving staircases but the ones that led through the Common-Room in Gryffindor tower and to the Quidditch pitch. The only ones not there were those that would have caused serious damage to rip away- the ones in the stands for example. Students from higher balconies were all leaning over and shouting in protest. A group of second-year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were shouting the loudest. Molly put her head in her hands in exasperation.

"James _bloody_ Potter and Sam _bloody_ Andrews." She whispered.

"How do you know it was them?" Lien asked. Molly looked at her.

"When isn't it them?" She did have a point there. Lien had been at the castle for little over three days and already she'd been witness to three aftermaths of pranks concocted by the marauding twins, not including this one. The first had been relatively simple, the flooding of the corridors using acidic potions that really weren't supposed to be mixed together, the second, less annoying, fifteen dungbombs exploding outside the great hall to spell the words 'Slytherin sucks', and the third, more complex, magical fireworks had chased Professor Binns around his classroom chanting facts from their previous History of Magic lessons, the teacher, forgetting in his terror, that he was a ghost and the fireworks couldn't actually hurt him, providing the pupils with the most energetic display by the old man the school had ever seen.

James and Sam, hidden safely inside the nearest cupboard, clutched their sides with mirth. Sam held up her hand for a high five and James hit it whole-heartedly, socking her in the shoulder as well for good measure. She socked him back and soon they were locked in a scuffle that was completely irrelevant.

The door flew open and there stood Lydjah and Jayna, identical bemused expressions on their faces. The two Gryffindors fell out of the cupboard.

"If I didn't know you I'd say you were snogging in there." Lydjah said, chuckling. Then her eyes widened and she sucked in a shocked breath, staring unseeingly in front of her.

"What-" Began Sam.

"So- how did you do it?" Jayna cut in quickly.

"Do what?" They asked at the same time, smiling innocently. Both Ravenclaws looked at them disbelievingly, Lydjah apparently returning from whatever state she'd been in. Jayna shot her a quick 'tell me later' look and Lydjah nodded almost imperceptibly. James' smile turned smug. "Well," he began, ignoring Sam's rolling eyes, "if someone were to do it, all they'd have to do is cast a summoning charm from the other end of the castle and then bind it in place with an 'Incarcerous' spell and then hide the latter spell with a disillusionment charm."

"Oh what a shame those three spells are too hard to master for our year." Jayna said sarcastically.

"I'd like to see you try it." James sniggered. He was confident in the fact that those spells were not supposed to be learnt for another year- he and Sam, of course, being above averagely clever but refusing to show it, had learnt most of the spells for the syllabus that year, if only the ones useful for tricks and pranks. Jayna pointed her wand at him, and without saying a single word, or so James thought, pulled James to her using the Seize and Pull Charm, tied him up in several thick forest vines and cast a disillusionment charm so that he was no longer visible.

Sam stared at her in amazement. "What the actual fuck Blackwood?" she asked with a begrudging admiration. Jayna shrugged. "You can do non-verbal magic?"

"Only for this years and last years' syllabus." Jayna lied excellently. "I've had this wand for ages; my parents bribed Ollivander," (the second) "to make me one. I've been learning magic since I was about four; my accidental magic I learnt to control so non-verbal magic is what I first learnt to do." This bit was technically true, but she was nowhere near being able to do Hogwarts-worthy spells non-verbally.

"Bloody hell." Jayna frowned, apparently still not getting the phrase. "No wonder you're in Ravenclaw." She shrugged again.

"Maybe- but I rely heavily on Lydjah to get us into the Common-Room- I can't solve a riddle to save my life." Unfortunate that, as her life would later depend on one. But, of course, that's later.

"Where the Hell is James though?" There was some muffled grunting about three metres to their left. The three of them laughed.

" _Homenum Revelio_! _Diffindo_!" And suddenly James had reappeared and the bonds tying him together had pooled around his feet. Jayna vanished them too with a lazy flick of her wand.

"Fucking girls." He sighed.

" _Densaugeo_!"

" _Furnunculus_!"

" _Langlock_!" James simultaneously grew extraordinarily long teeth that continued to grow past his jaw, sprouted boils all over his face and had his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth so he couldn't speak (the latter being fired by Jayna who was still feeling slightly guilty over tying him up). The three witches fell over laughing. After a few minutes giggling at his expense Jayna flicked her wand again and undid her hex.

"FUCKING MERLIN!" He tried to yell, sort of obstructed by his still growing teeth.

"I'm sorry; I'll take notes for you?" Sam asked. James narrowed his eyes but traipsed off to the Hospital Wing. Jayna stared worriedly after him.

"Don't worry he won't rat us out."

"Oh, yeah, right." She said distractedly, because, as you will have realised if you, reader, have a brain, which if you don't would be a marvellous accomplishment for you to be able to read this, that Jayna wasn't worried about that at all. Sam, having a brain herself, smiled secretively but made no comment. Just then, a great cry of triumph went up from the crowd behind them and they all sighed and turned back to their classmates.

"I didn't know you were a feminist Sam." Lydjah said casually.

"Meh sure, but I just wanted a chance to hex him." Lydjah burst out laughing. "What?"

"Well that's exactly why I did it." She said through peals of laughter. "Couldn't let Jay-Jay have all the fun." Sam shook her head at Lydjah's ridiculous nickname. Jayna seemed lost in thought, that is, until Ned spoke.

"Hey, Sam, where's James?" Ned asked curiously. It was a complete coincidence that Jayna's head snapped up at James' name. Sam shrugged.

"Dunno- he went off somewhere. You don't have a spare quill do you?"

"So?"

"So what?"

"So what did you see?"

"Jayna there are people around. I'll tell you later, alright?" Jayna rolled her eyes but consented.

"Good going with that Muffliato Charm- it must have been convincing." Lydjah sniggered.

"We pulled a prank on the master pranksters!" Jayna changed the topic as they continued up the staircase to their Defence against the Dark Arts lesson that they were once again sharing with the Gryffindors. Jayna was happy to note however, that they also had an extra two classes with them; Potions and Astronomy. Astronomy was the one she was rather worried about though because she tended to lose her formality after midnight and would blurt out whatever came into her head; something she would almost always regret in the morning. They'd never had the lesson before because Professor Sinistra had ended up taking the last year off due to a bout of Dragon pox. It had been cancelled so that the temporary teacher could concentrate on getting the NEWT group through their exams. This year's Astronomy wasn't going to take place until October because the teacher thought it was simply too cloudy until then. Jayna couldn't really see it herself; September was plenty clear enough for her to see the stars from her window most nights. She'd gotten into the habit of sleeping on her windowsill but, again, she regretted it in the morning.

"What do you want for your birthday?"

Lydjah looked at her. "Jayna it's the second of September."

"Yes; so I only have a month and one day to get you a present!"

"Oh you know the drill."

"Doctor Who, Holyhead Harpies, Chocolate, _Will Herondale_ related?"

"Exactly."

"You watch Doctor Who?" Lee asked curiously, over-hearing them.

"Everyone should watch Doctor Who." Jayna confirmed. Lee shook her head.

"I didn't think you were the type."

"You stand corrected." Jayna said, wishing she didn't understand what Lee was talking about.

"Finally!" Yelled Professor Avisana. "You've missed half the lesson!" Most of the class was unusually upset about this as Professor Avisana had quickly become the favourite teacher of a lot of the school. She had been a first year student when Professor Lupin was the Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher and though, of course, no-one from the current student body could see it, their ways of teaching were very similar as he had inspired Alice Avisana to become a DADA teacher, and this was later reinforced by joining the DA and being taught by Harry Potter, though she was called Alice Tolipan then.

The students walked quickly into her classroom and to their seats, mostly from last year but with a few notable exceptions. Due to a conjunctivitis hex gone wrong one of the Gryffindors (Josie Kent), had very bad eyesight and had to sit at the front. Her friend Sally accompanied her and Jayna and Lydjah ended up swapping seats with them so, for the first time ever (Jayna's insistence not Lydjah's), they sat in desks at the back of the classroom, next to James' and Sam's.

"This year we are going to be studying a wide variety of creatures and defensive spells to deal with them as well as some extra defensive magic. To start with, what is the first defensive spell you should use in a duel? Yes Jayna?" She said smiling warmly at her most eager pupil. Jayna, taking note of what Lydjah said made an effort to smile back as she answered. She heard a gasp from the other side of the room from one of the Gryffindors and stifled a giggle in her hand as a cough.

"Expelliarmus?"

"Correct. Why?"

"Because it's the best way to keep yourself safe while you assess the situation- you have time to decide whether it's best to fight or flee."

"Correct- five points to Ravenclaw." Jayna glowed. The teacher flicked her wand and the register parchment flew into her hand. She muttered a few words under her breath and it began zooming around the classroom on its own presumably marking who was in. "Now, this lesson we are going to do the theory on this spell and next lesson we'll be practicing it. I'm hoping that by October, after we've covered a few other spells, we'll be able to start a small duelling club- I'll choose your partners and you'll duel." The class grinned excitedly at each other, the Ravenclaws in particular.

"So, if you could turn your copies of The Dark Forces; A Guide To Self-Protection to page 144 and make notes. Remember, as always, you are allowed to talk in my lessons and I will not be checking your notes but it's your grade that will fall if you don't have correct notes to study from." Everyone loved her way of teaching, the lazy could just do the notes when they got back to the Common-Room, the smart-alecs could take detailed notes and, as she wasn't busy, ask her extended questions into magical lore and theory.

"When are you going to tell me?"

"You weren't joking about your lack of patience huh? Not now."

"Tell her what?" Sam interrupted. Lydjah shot Jayna a glare.

"Nothing." She said unconvincingly at the same time as Jayna said, "How to get to the room of Hidden Things."

Lydjah blinked at her. Sam decided to take the latter as the truth. "How do you get there? It doesn't show up on- Well… I've never been in it."

"I'm not surprised- most people don't even know it exists."

"So how do you get in there Lydjah?" Lydjah, who had only the vaguest idea as to what the room even was, obviously had no clue.

"I'm not telling anyone. My dad told me and I'm keeping his secret."

"It's just how to get into a room!" Sam said laughing at Lydjah's grave expression.

"It's the room of Hidden Things for a reason though- I'm not about to spill my dad's secret hiding place."

"What's he hiding?" Lydjah shrugged. Jayna thankfully, finally, changed the subject.

"Have you taken any notes yet Lydjah?"

"No?"

"Was that a question?"

"Was that?"

"Yes."

"That wasn't though."

"I am aware."

"Of what?"

"The questionable status of the sentence you just uttered."

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Sam interrupted. Lydjah and Jayna looked at each other.

"To be honest I have no idea." They both chorused. Sam sniggered and the three girls returned to their work.


	12. Of Extraordinarily Bad Consequences and Unexpected Plot Twists (Which Is Why They're Called Plot Twists)

Lien's food had once again been deterred from her stomach by an anxious Lydjah. They stood in an enclosed part of the courtyard, although it's not as if anyone was about anyway "… seeing as they're all eating their food!" Lien whined. Lydjah rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry this will only take a second-"

"Where's Jayna anyway?" Lien interrupted curiously. Lydjah tried not to get irritated.

"She had to visit the Hospital Wing." The thought did bring a smile to her lips, Lydjah knew she'd never go in; too much pride for that, but she'd wait and listen to check James was ok. "But that really doesn't matter right now; I got a letter from my dad earlier; someone's threatening the Ministry and whoever they are has to be from the inside; no-one else could have managed to get the messages to the Minister of Magic." Lydjah looked expectantly at her but Lien only frowned confusedly.

"But how does that affect me?"

"I don't know. It's just last time someone did this the Muggleborns were targeted. I just wanted to give you a heads-up- just look after yourself you know?" Lydjah felt a little uncomfortable now. She wasn't really in the habit of being nice.

"Well isn't this just darling; you've started a club for half-wits and filth." Cara Blackwood strolled casually over to them, flanked by two other Slytherins; Willow Travers- a slightly torn Slytherin who didn't have Pure-Blood supremacist views but would follow Cara everywhere and Lys Bulstrode- a new addition to Cara's friends and a total bitch in Lydjah's eyes.

"Cararon," she drawled, Cara glaring at the use of her full name, "how _lovely_ it is to see you again."

"I'm afraid I can't extend the same courtesy."

"What a surprise."

"Where's my sister?" Lydjah raised her eyebrows.

"Why do you want to know?" The question however, came from Lien. Lydjah winced. Cara looked down at her (not quite as far down as her sister had to as Jayna was an inch or so taller, despite being two years younger) with such disgust that Lien felt like melting into the floor.

"I'm right here." Jayna called. She appeared in the doorway, her wand hanging casually by her side but the tensing of her shoulders betrayed her anger. "I'm sorry about the hexes girls- you look fine now." Jayna smirked and all three Slytherins bristled with anger, each taking out their own wands (apparently no-one had forgotten the train ride).

"Why exactly, little sister, have you become best friends with a first-year Mudblood Hufflepuff?" Jayna shrugged.

"It just kind of happened."

"That's not good enough." There was something slightly desperate in the way Cara spoke, something that made Jayna want to run over to her and give her a hug like she used to. She repressed the feeling with regret.

"Cara- you can't hate every person with non-magical blood just because our family was killed by two drunk idiotic muggles-"

"Our family was _murdered_ Jayna!"

"And our family probably _had_ murdered!" Lien gasped from behind them but Lydjah stepped forward to put a hand on her shaking friend's shoulder. It had been a difficult summer for Lydjah as well; on the one hand, she'd always wanted a sibling, on the other; the way she got one was through her best friend's family being murdered and Jayna was obviously hurting very badly. "And that's just speculation anyway- it's more likely that it was an accident." She seemed to be trying to convince herself of this too; her family being killed accidentally. "They incriminated the people responsible; why can't you let it go!"

"Oh like you have?" Cara laughed; hysteria and sarcasm warring in her tone. "I've seen the way you look at them; I heard you raging in your bedroom in the winter holidays last year." Jayna's hand tightened on her wand.

"What I said then was a mistake-"

"And I heard about you hexing that first year." Jayna slumped, her body folding in on itself and her wand barely staying in her grip.

"That wasn't anything to do with her blood status. She's not even a Mud- Muggleborn."

"What was it to do then? Just feeling particularly vindictive?" Cara lashed out. Jayna didn't look tall any more. She looked broken.

"She said that they should rot in Hell. All of them. I know Grandpa… Well I know what he did. But our brothers? Aleron with his stupid, _stupid_ hair and his insistence on wearing glasses even though we could have paid to have his eyesight fixed in a heartbeat?" She was sobbing, not prettily, more like she had glass stuck in her throat. Her face had caved in- her hair sticking to her wet cheeks in patches. "Do you think that's why he didn't get out Car? Maybe he couldn't see… Maybe he couldn't find his glasses… I should have made him get rid of them…" Cara had frozen, shocked. Willow looked compassionate and Lys looked awkward. Lien was as shocked as Cara but for different reasons. Lydjah stood, helpless, watching her cry the tears she'd stupidly locked up for so long. "And Devin? Baby Dev? He was always going to be the baby of the family… But he was going to be a Quidditch star I know it. Barrelling into things with his chubby legs and ability to bounce off any surface? Do you remember when he stole all your make-up Car?"

"And said he only wanted to be pretty?" Cara whispered, a wobbling half-smile trying to form on her lips. "It took ages to get the foundation out of his hair."

"He was supposed to start education next year."

"I know." The two sisters looked at each other, a shared moment of understanding passing between them.

"Alarte Ascendare!" Apparently not standing quite as awkwardly as she seemed, Lys' spell hit Jayna directly in the chest and she flew into the wall behind, her neck snapping to the side in a sickening fashion. The brick wall dented where her head had smashed into it and a trickle of blood was sliding down her forehead.

"Jayna!" Two identical screams of terror filled the air. Lydjah's turned into a snarl of anger.

"Anapneo!" She yelled quickly, pointing at Jayna's throat, aiming to clear it. Immediately she started coughing but to Lydia's horror not only did she not wake; she was coughing up blood. Lydjah had watched enough horror movies to know that most likely Jayna's lung had been punctured, quite possibly because of a broken rib she'd attained when she'd been thrown into the wall. "Shit." She turned back towards Lys, barely finishing her hex before running back to Jayna, "Avifors!" Lys had been standing horrified- apparently she hadn't meant to hurt Jayna so badly (which shows what comes from using one of Gilderoy Lockhart's spells) before Lydjah's spell turned her into a rather large dodo. The transfiguration should not have been possible for a second year; which is possibly why the dodo still had human legs, arms and eyes.

Willow and Cara both had their wands drawn but were standing rather uselessly, both of them unsure of which side to pick. Kneeling by Jayna's side Lydjah pressed her fingers to her broken throat, wincing as she felt the snapped bone lodged inside.

"Cararon Mae Blackwood save your fucking sister!" Cara snapped out of her trance and ran over.

"Brackium Emendo! Episkey! Tergeo!" The blood stopped pouring out of her lips (Cara had siphoned away the existing blood but it wouldn't be long before her lung started filling up again) and the bone in her neck straightened. "That'll be enough until you get her to Madam Longbottom."

"Are you not-" Before Lydjah could finish three very strange things happened at the same time. Lys disappeared, feathers and all. A very small first year Muggleborn Hufflepuff barrelled into the Slytherin who had accused her of being filth, admittedly while aiming for Lydjah, effectively saving both of their lives, and an unidentified figure with a familiar voice screamed the name of a spell that would have sent Harry Potter's scar ablaze had he heard it.

" _Avada Kedavra_!" Unfortunately for the caster of the spell the person they had been aiming at was safely low-lying (thanks to Lien) with everyone else barring Willow who was nowhere near the miss anyway. She still shrieked and headed for cover. Seeing that he had missed, the caster of the curse did their best to salvage the situation. " _Obliviate_!" And then, smiling all the while, he flicked his wand again, healing Jayna of all her injuries- and not a moment too soon as she would have run out of oxygen.

Each of them sat up, each of them confused. Cara looked at where she was sat and stood up quickly with a shudder.

"Why am I sat down with them? Wait… What happened? Something happened." She expressed to the group at large. Disgust twisted her face but there was something wrong with the emotion, as if she didn't quite feel it any more. She pushed away the uneasiness and grabbed her best friend's hand, pulling Willow from the floor. "Where's Lys?"

Willow frowned. "I don't know… For some reason I'm getting the image of a Dodo."

"Let's go." The other three let them, glaring at their backs as they left.

"What happened?" Jayna rubbed the back of her head thoughtfully, standing with the others.

"Jayna!" Lien screamed suddenly. The two Ravenclaws jumped in surprise.

"Hell Lien- FUCK Jayna!"

"What in Merlin's name are you two screaming about-" Lydjah pointed at Jayna's shirt, her face white; blood coated Jayna's tie and shirt. Jayna's eyes widened in alarm. "But there's nothing wrong with me-"

"Take your shirt off." Lydjah commanded worriedly.

"Lydjah I am not taking my shirt off in the middle of the courtyard-"

"Do it." She snarled. Lien politely turned away, Lydjah did not. Jayna removed her tie with difficulty, the drying blood making it stiff and unmovable. She peeled off her shirt and glanced down at her stomach warily. "Turn all the way round."

When no injury was to be found the Ravenclaws both sighed in relief. "Lydjah where's my wand?" She frowned, knowing somehow it had been torn from her grasp but the details escaped her.

"Here." Lydjah picked it up from where it had rolled off about three metres away.

" _Scorgify_!" Jayna said pointing her wand at her tie.

Lien, from behind her, widened her eyes in alarm and turned to them, away from the door entrance as their unofficial look-out. "Guys I think lunch has just finished- I have a class." Lydjah nodded.

"We'll catch up with you later; we'll be fashionably late." Lien left and Lydjah turned back to Jayna, just missing the entrance of James and his current new-girlfriend (seeing as none of them lasted past the end of the 'new' stage), Sally Curtis.


	13. Of Extremely Awkward Moments and Professor Vector

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to let you know how I'm updating this; at the moment it's once a week unless a chapter gets more than ten views in which case it's twice. I'll add that I'll update another chapter for every comment/kudos (just for now obviously :) ). Thanks for reading!

"Oh shit." Lydjah whispered quietly. She pulled an apologetic face at Jayna who didn't even manage to spare her a glare in her embarrassment. Obviously this had been another one of Lydjah's 'visions' from last year.

"James? What's going on?" Sally asked, her voice not yet warming up to the anger she felt boiling in her stomach.

"I-" He spluttered, the tips of his ears and the back of his neck flaring red. He tried not to stare at Jayna, who was redder than a strawberry and had crossed her arms defensively across her chest, but it was a little too late as he'd already had this image burned into the backs of his eyelids.

"What is this? Merlin- you invited me to an orGY DIDN'T YOU?!" Sally screeched hysterically. All three of them looked at her in utter disbelief. Jayna reached down, rather distractedly, grabbing her tie instead of her shirt from where she'd dropped it again in surprise. Sally's eyes got even wider. "MERLIN'S FUCKING PANTS- THEY ACTUALLY DO THAT WITH TIES- OH MY MERLIN- THAT IS DISGUSTING!" Sally yelled even higher.

"No I didn't mean-"

"You didn't mean me?! You and your friend are going to tie him up together?!" Jayna felt like slapping the girl; they were twelve years old for Merlin's sake!

"Hell no!" Lydjah interrupted, her eyebrows rushing to her hairline, "As if I would have sex with a Gryffindor prat!" She changed her mind on this about eleven months later but that's not relevant.

"That's a little harsh Lydjah!" James tried to joke but to no avail.

"So you admit it! You're having sex with them!"

"What, no!" All three of them cried, Jayna desperately shoving her arms through the sleeves of her shirt- forgetting that the shirt still had the huge bloodstain on it. As neither James nor Sally nor Lydjah was looking at her (out of embarrassment, anger and accidental ignorance respectively) neither of the newcomers knew that she was uninjured and Lydjah didn't have a chance to explain before they were both yelling at the tops of their voices.

"OH MY MERLIN WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? IS THIS SOME SORT OF TRICK SO I'LL RUN TO THE HOSPITAL WING-"

"BLOODY MOTHERFUCKING HELL BLACKWOOD- YOU NEED TO GET TO THE HOSPITAL WING- IT'S OK- YOU'RE GONNA BE FINE-" The decibel that he shouted it at did not seem to indicate this though.

"OH SO NOW YOU'RE ON HER SIDE-"

"Sally will you shut up for five seconds! She's BLEEDING to DEATH-"

"I am NOT bleeding to death-"

"FINE I WILL! I NEVER SHOULD HAVE TRUSTED YOU- I SHOULD HAVE LISTEND TO JOSIE-"

"JOSIE? WHAT THE HELL HAVE I DONE TO JOSIE?!" But, thankfully, his question fell on deaf ears as the hysterical Gryffindor fled the alcove and went back into the main part of the courtyard. James whirled back to Jayna only to find that the blood had completely cleared from her shirt. "What," He began tiredly, sitting down on the floor, "in Merlin's god-awful name-" Lydjah sat next to him, Jayna joining her other side.

"Just happened?" Jayna finished for him.

"Yeah."

"We don't know."

"Why were you standing there in your bra?" He asked, looking at the floor between his feet. She copied his position as she answered and Lydjah released a long tired sigh, rolling her eyes at blushing teenagers in general.

"We thought like you did that I might have an injury so I was just doing a thorough examination." Jayna internally screamed from how badly phrased that was but thankfully he didn't comment.

"Oh. Then where was the blood from?"

"We don't know… There's more of it on the floor there." She gestured vaguely with her hand.

"How can you not know?" Both of them frowned.

"My sister was here-"

"There was definitely a bird-"

"I'm pretty sure Lien did something-"

"You were crying-"

"I was not crying!"

"You totally were." Lydjah sniggered then immediately sobered. "But it wasn't funny…"

"What was I crying over then?"

"I think it was Aleron-" Her eyes widened and she snapped her mouth shut looking worriedly at her best friend. Jayna flinched and James blinked in confusion.

"Who's Aleron?" He asked. Neither girl answered him. Frowning he walked over to where the puddle of blood lay and then happened to glance up at the roof.

"Holy shit!" He exclaimed. The Ravenclaws looked at him expectantly. He pointed at the ceiling. "There's a huge head-shaped dent in the wall- no wonder there's so much blood."

Lydjah and Jayna hurried over and, sure enough, the bricks had caved in. Jayna touched the back of her head, feeling a faint echo of pain.

"Guys… I think that was me."

"Jayna you wouldn't have survived long enough for the blood to dry without medical attention."

"I know." Her face pinched in concentration, shifting through her hazy memories. "But I think I got medical attention." And then, suddenly, it flooded back to her. "Memory Charm." She whispered.

Understanding dawned on Lydjah's face. "Of course! That's why we can't remember anything properly. We must have been duelling someone-"

"Most probably my sister." Jayna added in disgust. "And her idiotic friends."

"Yes I'm sure there were three of them."

"Cara, Willow and Lys… But hang on, we didn't see Lys leave."

"Maybe she was the one that cast the spell."

"No I'm sure it was a male voice. Someone threw me into the wall-"

"Jayna," James interrupted. "That amount of blood didn't come from a head wound otherwise it would have been down your back not your front." Jayna nodded knowing he was right.

"I think I threw up some."

"Threw up blood? You'd have to have a collapsed lung for that-"

"And I did. I had a snapped neck so Lydjah tried to unblock my throat but that just made me puke blood." They both turned to Lydjah who was looking in horror at the floor.

"Lydjah what's wrong?"

"Lien saved our lives."

"What? How?"

"Don't you remember?" Her voice had taken on a far-away quality. "The way he said it?"

"The way he said what Lydjah?"

Her eyes snapped back into focus and she said with perfect clarity; "Avada Kedavra. The killing curse." A shiver ran through the three second-years.

"We need to go to Professor Vector."

"And say what? 'We have absolutely no proof but we're pretty sure a male tried to kill us.' Because I don't think she'd appreciate that."

"We do have proof though. They can extract our memories."

"Our memories have been tampered with! We can't trust them."

"I know. But this is too serious to just let it go." Lydjah nodded slowly. James coughed.

"Oh, right, well-"

"I'm really sorry for ruining your date James." Jayna interrupted sincerely. Lydjah snorted.

"I'm not. What are you doing prancing about with that idiot Sally? You should thank us for saving you from that. And anyway I thought I told you to _learn how to knock_." James blushed a hot red and Lydjah smirked.

Jayna cast a questioning glance between the two of them but when neither obliged she laced her tie around her neck and hurried out of the alcove without a second glance.

"Lydjah?" Lydjah waited expectantly by the exit. "Does Jayna, erm, _like_ me?" Lydjah gave him a once over, snorted again, and walked out without replying leaving James bewildered behind her.

 

Lydjah caught up with Jayna just as she left the courtyard but, as usual, her walking pace had to be adapted to keep up with Jayna's long legs. If her legs were normal size, Jayna would have been at average height, but her legs were rather disproportionate to her torso meaning that she couldn't get anywhere near touching her toes, a fact that annoyed her greatly, as her seven-year-old self, before her growth spurt, could have quite easily done so.

Never the less, long legs came in handy when your athletic ability amounted to nothing- at least one stride of yours was two of theirs as Lydjah was so kindly demonstrating. Jayna sniggered to herself but Lydjah knew her well enough not to ask- Jayna's mind was mysterious and weird.

Before long they had arrived at the repaired gryphon that stood in the way of the headmistress' office.

"Do you know-" Lydjah started but was cut off by Jayna.

"Quadratic." The gryphon began to turn. Lydjah looked at her friend curiously. Jayna shrugged. "I'm an eavesdropper. It comes in useful sometimes."

Jayna knocked politely on the Headmistress' door.

"Come in!" It wasn't as if she had barked the approval but there was always a sternness to Professor Vector's voice. "Ah Miss Blackwood, and Miss Dawson too. What can I do for you?" Jayna was impressed at her knowledge of the students' names. Then again, she thought sourly, it might just be that the Professor had made a conscious effort to remember _her_ name.

Professor Septima Vector was very tall and rather wiry. She looked, at first glance, like a push-over, but Merlin help the poor soul who tried to test it. Everything she did was precise and calculated, like she knew everything happening two steps in advance. She had a biscuit tin that could only be opened if you could complete the equation on the outside. While being reluctant to give up her job as the Arithmancy Professor and head of Ravenclaw house, the title of Headmistress was not something one refused easily and no-one could deny she was fitting for the job. She usually had her reddy-brown hair loose and it flowed out at all angles, literally all angles- she styled it that way on purpose, but not so all her hair was on end, it usually just looked like a few stray hairs had decided to defy gravity. She always wore blue, whether because she liked the colour or because it was the colour of her house no-one was sure. Several rings decorated each finger, but not enough to restrict her movement. She also never looked tired; even as the years had begun to carve lines into her face she always gave the air of a really good night's rest.

"We got into a duel with my- some Slytherins," Jayna began, getting straight to the point as she moved further into the office. Professor Vector gestured for them both to sit which Lydjah did and Jayna declined. "Which I assure you I would not usually trouble you with, but there was something rather more serious at this duel. Our memories have been tampered with- we think with the Memory charm but we can't be sure- but we both believe that the killing curse was attempted during this fight." Professor Vector sucked in a shocked breath of surprise.

"By one of the Slytherins?" Jayna shook her head slowly.

"The voice was male." Lydjah supplied. "We were originally duelling three females."

"Did you recognise the voice?" Both of them frowned.

"I'm sorry Professor- the more I try to remember it the more I seem to forget." Jayna said.

"The charm can have that effect. It's rare though." The way she was looking at Jayna seemed to imply that she found the effect this charm had had on her very interesting. "Did anything else happen outside of ordinary duels?"

"I had my neck snapped." Jayna said calmly. The Headmistress' eyes widened with alarm.

"Have you been to the Hospital Wing?"

"No. Someone healed me."

"Someone?" Jayna struggled.

"Jayna's sister helped…" Lydjah began, "But I think someone else fully saved her."

"Could the someone else be the male voice?"

"It could be." Lydjah shrugged helplessly. "Though why he'd save her life just after trying to end it is a mystery. I'm sorry Professor I can't remember much at all."

"Someone using the killing curse here… It has not been done for a very long time-"

"I'd hardly say nineteen years was a long time Professor." Jayna interrupted but there was an edge to her voice that Lydjah didn't like. The Headmistress stiffened.

"Maybe not. Still, it is not something I would like to repeat." Jayna nodded, her face softening. The student body and the teachers, on the whole, quite possibly the Head-teacher included, never knew quite what to make of Jayna Blackwood, not that many did. Some took her for how she acted herself (Professor Avisana and Professor Longbottom), others on her surname (Professor Slughorn (although in his case this wasn't necessarily a bad thing) and Professor Rossesson, who was absolutely terrified of her) and still others seemed to be a mix between the two, they'd be talking normally and then they'd suddenly remember her surname and start glaring or abruptly ending the conversation (Professor Sinistra and Professor Trelawney, who didn't even teach them, being the professor of a subject they could not opt to take until next year). Lydjah liked to count herself in the few that did but, even without her gift, Lydjah could sense a huge mistake on the horizon, on Jayna's part. It wasn't that she was emotionally handicapped, in fact she thought little of people who were, but Lydjah knew she was bottling something, maybe for good reason, but it when it came out there would be Hell to pay. "You are sure about this girls?"

The two of them nodded. "Very well. I will send note to the Ministry- I'd prefer to be overcautious." She fluttered her hands vaguely. Internally Lydjah snorted- overcautious? But then again it's hardly like their recount of the duel had been convincing. "And I'd prefer it if you both reported to the infirmary- just in case." The Ravenclaws groaned but trooped off to do what they were told.

"Hey Lydjah?" Jayna whispered as they were leaving.

"Yeah?"

"Did you see-"

"Professor Vector's huge ass snake tattoo going up her arm?"

"Yes!" The sounds of the laughing girls were loud enough to disturb Peeves from his uneventful afternoon into a pranking frenzy- something that Professor Longbottom did not appreciate as all his plants were tipped onto the floor in Greenhouse One- which is why the Herbology teacher failed to notice one of them was missing for quite some time.


	14. Of Interrogations By The Potters and Trick-Steps (You Can Tell This Won't End Well)

Lien headed up to the sixth floor, wracking her brains for anything that may come in handy during this 'interview'. Unfortunately, like the two Ravenclaws, Lien could remember very little of lunch break the previous day. Both Lydjah and Jayna had already been questioned by the Aurors but for some reason Lien had the privilege of talking to Harry Potter himself.

She reached the room, and after double checking its number, knocked timidly. "Come in!" The voice was not unkind but authoritative. She stepped into the room and sat quickly down in the chair he indicated, pulling her bag off her shoulder and onto the floor. She did a quick survey of the man in front of her.

The years had been kind to Harry, while laughter lines had creased around his eyes and he was sporting a new scar over his right cheekbone, in addition to the lightning bolt hidden behind his unruly hair, he still had a certain youthfulness about him and, although he no longer looked like a student, Lien could easily imagine him as he would have looked some twenty years prior. This may, of course, have been because of the striking resemblance to his sons, James in particular. When he looked up at her, his still-round glasses reflecting the bright green of his irises, it was as if the young Slytherin was sat directly before her, but if she ignored the eyes, James could have been his twin. Surprisingly, Harry was wearing what looked to be a faded Gryffindor scarf.

"Lien Irby isn't it?" She nodded. "Ok, can you give me a rundown of what happened from the start of that lunch break to the end- as much as you can remember."

"Well, I came out of Transfiguration intending to go to the Great Hall for lunch but Lydjah caught up with me and she had something she needed to tell me." Harry nodded encouragingly so the first year sat more comfortably in the chair, speaking with more confidence. "She warned me about- well the threats to the Ministry. Her father, I think, works there?" Harry nodded again. "Anyway she thought I should be careful because I'm a Muggleborn and well, apparently they were targeted in the last war-" The lines around Harry's eyes tightened considerably. Lien swallowed. "Anyway then Cara turned up-"

"Cararon Blackwood?"

"Yeah." The way Harry had spoken her last name, with the tiniest amount of inflection, confirmed Lien's suspicions. "They- her family that is- they weren't on the right side of the war where they?"

"The right side?"

"The winning side." Harry's eyebrows rose, as if he thought that was interesting way of putting it.

"No, no they weren't. However, I see no reason for their children to be the same." Lien struggled for a moment, wondering, if she could fully appreciate the war, would she hate Jayna by default?

"What happened to her family?"

"I'm sorry but that's not for me to disclose." Lien blushed, remembering that this was an authority figure she was conversing with; not another pupil.

"Right, sorry. Erm, anyway, Cara turned up and started taunting me about my blood status or something and then Jayna came in- oh we were in a sectioned off part of the courtyard at this point- and started talking to her sister…" Lien frowned trying to remember. "It started off angry, I think, but then Jayna… She broke-down?" The answer was not a question of what she remembered but that she hardly believed the memory, even though it was one of the more vivid ones, because the idea of Jayna breaking down was rather ludicrous. "And then there was a duel… I'm not sure who between but I wasn't involved in it. And then I saw something that made me push Lydjah- no, Cara, over. My next memory is of standing up when Cara and her friend left and then noticing the bloodstain on Jayna's shirt. Then I remembered I had another class and I saw more students entering the courtyard so I assumed break was over and headed to my third class." She finished, looking up at Harry nervously. He seemed to be comparing her story to the other people's interviews.

"Can you remember the killing curse actually being uttered?" Lien blushed again.

"I'm sorry, er," She paused wondering what the proper address for him was before disregarding it and carrying on, "but I wouldn't know the killing curse even if I heard it." Harry blinked, and something like jealously flashed over his face before he smiled warmly.

"Of course. Look I'm trusting you to never repeat this- not that you would be able to perform the spell anyway but the incantation is Avada Kedavra." As he spoke the words his voice took on a slightly more sinister tone but Lien trusted the look of disgust on his face as he crinkled up his nose and curled his lip. Lien thought about the words but couldn't find any familiarity in them at all. She shrugged.

"Sorry." Harry sighed but it was with a smile.

"Thanks for your time Lien; I'll notify you if there are any developments." Lien made to stand, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "You're a first-year right? Which house?"

"Hufflepuff."

"Ah I was hoping you would be with my son."

"Unfortunately not." Lien said politely. Harry smiled at her again and then returned to his notes. Lien, recognising the dismissal, turned the door handle and stepped out; directly into yet another Potter.

"Ahh!" She yelped, somehow managing to jump out of the way of the classroom and into the corridor, the door swinging shut behind her, Harry apparently not noticing. The dazed Slytherin blinked confusedly at her and then burst into a rush of apologies.

"Oh, Lien! I'm so sorry! Are you ok?" Lien was pleased that he'd remembered her name.

"Yeah I'm fine sorry- are you?" She asked awkwardly, fiddling with her bag strap.

"Yeah I'm good."

"Why are you here- I thought we had a class now-" She cut herself off. "Oh, right, yeah, he's your dad."

"Yeah."

"I like his scarf." She blurted. Albus looked at her as if she'd grown three heads; she turned scarlet with humiliation.

"Yeah." He drew out slowly. "He always wears it- it's not even a Gryffindor thing anymore- it's because he misses this place." He wondered why he'd told her that. Lien and Albus both mentally-begged to fall through the floor into a puddle of embarrassment.

Fortunately for Lien, her wish was granted rather suddenly as she stepped back onto the trick step at the top of the sixth-floor staircase. Her left leg sank to the knee before she could blink causing her to topple over. Albus grabbed her sleeve as she fell, and without thinking about it she reached up to grab his wrist with her flailing arms.

"Don't struggle- that just makes it worse." Albus said calmly, steadying Lien's rising panic. "I'm going to grab your elbow and yank you out in three- all you have to do is try to kick off."

Lien nodded, searching worriedly with her encased foot for some kind of bottom. "Got it."

"Right; three, two, one- kick!" Lien pushed down rather hopelessly on the nothingness beneath her foot but she needn't have worried because Albus was able to pull her out quite easily. They were both pulled over, though thankfully not on top of each other, and lay breathless for a second before Lien slowly stood up.

"Thanks." She offered her hand to pull Albus up but she figured her helpful tug didn't really help that much- she wasn't weak but neither was she going to be giving someone a lasting bruise any time soon.

"No problem." Albus put his hands in his pockets, both of them refraining from eye-contact.

"Right, well I had better get back to class-"

"Sure you're not going to need any more help with the staircases?" It took Lien a beat too long to realise it was a joke so she tried to make up for it by laughing heartily- which just sounded stupid and fake.

"I'm sure I'll be fine." She flashed him a quick smile, which really looked rather more like a grimace, and hurried down the steps making sure to dodge the trick step this time. Albus shook his head, heading back towards his dad's make-shift office, wondering, not for the first time, if the pretty girl was entirely sane.


	15. Of the Start of October; A Debt and A Prank

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys I should have updated this yesterday but I was kinda busy :). Happy new year!

October dawned on the year of 2017 like a crisp breath of air, it got rid of the heat of summer yes, but also the stuffiness of it; the new school year had truly started now. The Aurors had studied the clearer memories of after the attack from the three students in a pensive, and had all decided the amount of blood of Jayna's shirt meant that the duel had not been an ordinary one. However, since they could find no further mention of the mystery man anywhere in Hogwarts, they had relinquished the case until something more incriminating happened, leaving only two behind on rotating shifts. Lys' mother had informed the school that Lys would no longer be attending Hogwarts but would not give reason why, a fact that both pleased and confused all those involved in the Courtyard Duel.

Sam's birthday had passed with several fireworks displays and a rather loud game of truth or dare that had led to two relationships and one startling realisation by the birthday girl herself.

Lien strolled peacefully through the corridor on the fourth floor (the corridor that was only there on Sundays) on her way to meet Molly in the library. She had been waylaid by another one of Sam and James' pranks which had caused anyone passing through the normally used fourth-floor corridor after Molly had gone through turn into a water-goblet. No-one was entirely sure why and the spell only lasted about five seconds but seeing as all the victims had ended up disorientated and muddled, Lien decided it would be easier to just go the long way round.

She was surprised, then, when Jayna grabbed her arm as she turned round the final corner, as pride warring with guilt twisted her pale face. "Lien!" She hissed. Lien blinked uncomprehendingly up at her. Guilt seemed to have won her over because she blurted out the next words without sarcasm. "I- I didn't thank you for saving mine and Lydjah's lives."

Lien raised her eyebrows. "I wasn't aware I had."

"In the 'Courtyard Duel'?"

"Seriously Jayna? That was ages ago." Jayna stared at her in disbelief.

"Oh no- I'm not going to fall for this one."

"What one?"

"I know I'm in your debt Lien and I'll repay it just don't ask me to do anything stupid." Lien blinked at her.

They were interrupted by James Potter crashing forcefully into Jayna from behind as he leaned to look over his shoulder.

"Merlin Potter!" Jayna spluttered as she regained her balance.

"Sorry Blackwood- oh you might want to vamoose; your sister's coming."

"Did you honestly just say 'vamoose'?"

"That is really not the point right now mate."

"Fine. Why is my sister coming?"

"I may have, you know, accidentally turned her into a water-goblet." Jayna closed her eyes for a second, asking Godric what on earth had possessed him to single out James Potter as a good candidate for his house. "Where's Lydjah? She wasn't in class today." Jayna tried to contain her snort of annoyance. Of course Lydjah got her first name.

"She's ill." Then Jayna was suddenly struck by an idea.

"Jayna, I've got to go to the library." Lien interrupted her dazzling train of thought.

"Oh right yeah whatever- see you around TH." Jayna muttered distractedly. Lien had already wandered away before she could think to ask what the nickname stood for. "James- do you have any unwanted items about your person?"

"Why?"

"Because I have just had the best prank idea for my sister ever."

The two second years waited anxiously around the corner, waiting for the patter of footsteps that would signal the fourth-year Slytherin.

"James Potter!" Yelled Cara, furious. Jayna exchanged a look with James and they both turned to the dungbomb that was lying on the floor between them.

Jayna pointed her wand at the dungbomb, whispering the anti-jinx spell's incantation. The dungbomb gave no signs of the spell's effect but Jayna hoped it was now impervious to jinxes, such as, I don't know; Arania Exumai?

" _Aranifors_!" They both said, as quietly as possible at the dungbomb. The dungbomb rose from the floor on its new set of eight, hairy legs. The pin popped off as black eyes took its place, snapping its pincers crankily. It towered over the two of them, who high-fived and then pushed its legs until it was in sight of Cara.

There was a small clatter as Cara's wand dropped on the floor and then-

"AHHHHHHHHH SHITTING MERLIN!" The shriek was both piercing and hilarious. " _ARANIA EXUMAI_! _Tarantallegra_! _Stupefy_!" When this, thankfully, had no effect Cara had no choice but to run, screaming, away from the scuttling monster. As it reached the end of the corridor is changed back into a dungbomb- a dungbomb without a pin. Jayna and James shot each other a look, their laughter-induced tears drying on their faces, before pegging it in the opposite direction.

"Mr Potter!" Jayna and James shared a brief look of panic before turning around, both with innocent smiles plastered on their faces. They had run from the fourth floor to the second where they finally stopped to catch their breath and find out where they were supposed to be. As it was almost lunch time, and by find out it meant ask Jayna; they had decided to grab some food in the Great Hall where they hoped some of their other friends would eventually turn up.

The prank had gone splendidly but both of them suddenly seemed to realise that they weren't friends. At all. James wondered how he had ever thought she was uptight- a smart-arse from questionable background who took pleasure in hexing him senseless, yes- but she wasn't uptight. Had she always been this way- and he just hadn't realised? Jayna wondered why he had agreed to help her at all- and did he remember that unfortunate circumstance he had found her in after the courtyard duel? (The answer to both their questions was yes.)

"Yes Professor Sinistra?" Simpered James in his best teacher's-pet voice, realising a second too late that not only was he not a teacher's-pet but that he also had the perfect one right next to him and he hadn't used her.

"Can I speak with you?" As they turned to face her Jayna's smile slipped and she frowned, her eyes starting to widen with fear.

"I'm afraid I will have to come with Professor- I'm tutoring James in Potions." She said quickly. James looked at her quizzically but Jayna refused to explain, looking patiently at the Professor. Thankfully James' history of pranking meant he recognised that it was a lie worth keeping, even if he didn't know why.

"That's right Professor." The Professor swayed a little to the right before she answered, a dreamy smile touching her lips. James thought nothing of it; the astronomy teacher had always been a little off.

"Up to my classroom then students." She hurried off, James and Jayna scurrying to keep up with her. James wondered what on earth he had done to the Professor to warrant stealing his free time.

"Why-" Jayna cut him off with a glare. They weaved between the crowds of hungry students, trying to keep the teacher in sight. She waited for them at the bottom of the steps.

"Up you go Miss Blackwood, Mr Potter." Jayna narrowed her eyes at the woman but went up nonetheless. She clenched her wand tighter as they passed through the first spiral, making sure to keep it hidden inside her robes. She was getting more and more worried the further up they climbed, though this was less to do with the odd behaviour and more about her fear of heights.

They reached the top but before Jayna could do more than turn around and raise her wand, the Astronomy teacher's stunning spell had knocked her unconscious.


	16. Of Another Era and What To Do When Your Best Friend's Been Kidnapped

Jayna woke slowly to the calling of her surname by a frantic James Potter. She opened her eyes blearily and looked around them. They were tied to a stone column by thick rope which was tight enough to restrict her breathing. Her wand had been taken from her as well as her robes and her jewellery so she was left in her normal school uniform. Her heart sunk at the thought of losing that robe, more for what was contained in the rest of the pockets rather than its warmth, and her parents' rings. They appeared to be in some sort of basement, with no light except a flickering flame in a jar in the corner, the flickering, she knew, would drive her insane long before anything else.

The room was square as far as she could see; which wasn't very far at all. James was a little too far round the column too touch but she could still see him without craning her neck.

"Why did you insist on coming with me?" James snarled, having decided she was awake enough. Jayna was taken back.

"You would prefer to be on your own?"

"Well, no, but I don't need to drag anyone else down with me, especially not someone they can use as leverage." Jayna shivered. He was right in that sense; it was James the professor had wanted; Jayna herself was just a bargaining tool. James sighed, softening. "Who knew Professor Sinistra was a kidnapper, eh?"

"I don't think she is." Jayna mused. "That's why I thought I would need to come with you; her eyes… She was under the Imperius."

"How do you know how to spot that?" James asked interestedly. Jayna smiled, and in the dim light James' stomach dropped at the sinister look it gave her. She looked like a serial-killer.

"Their eyes are kind of cloudy and they wait too long before speaking, like they're waiting on instructions. My grandparents had a very interesting way of celebrating Sunday dinners." He swallowed.

"But you're not… Like them, are you?"

"I don't dream of torturing muggles if that's what you mean. But I didn't spit on their graves either. The world may be well-rid of them but I'm not."

"What do you mean?" Jayna didn't reply for a while, and when she did it wasn't exactly the answer he'd hoped for.

"I'd have preferred to have died in the fire with them."

 

Scorpius looked, with some amusement, as Professor Sinistra came sprinting into the Great Hall, her robes flying out behind her. Albus' food was half-raised to his mouth but, as he was gawping at the uncommon display, it dropped into his lap. Needless to say a lot of swearing ensued, (the food was rather hot) something he knew, had Ginny been there to hear it, would have earned him a Silencio charm for several days- or until he agreed to tidy James' bedroom. Thankfully his mother was not there and so he and Scorpius missed the exchange between the Headmistress and the Astronomy professor, the former because he was busy trying not to look at if he had wet himself, the latter because he was rolling on the floor, clutching his sides in mirth.

When they finally sorted themselves out something else had caught their attention- the growing group of people crowded around a certain Lien Irby. Scorpius didn't care in the slightest but agreed to go and see what they were talking about- his time of agreement being, of course, completely coincidental to Rose Weasley leaving her seat at the other side of the room.

The first in the group around Lien was Lydjah who was inquiring as to where on 'Merlin's great hairy ball-sack' had her friend got to. Lien was explaining the fourth-floor corridor incident up to where she left the two of them.

"So you're feeling better now?"

"Yeah thanks. Just been feeling off these last few days." Lydjah replied wearily.

"Lydjah- you don't know what TH stands for do you?"

"TH? Nah sorry. So Jayna and James were together-"

"What about James?" Albus asked from behind her.

"Oh hey, smaller less annoying Potter- yes I'm wondering where your brother is so I can ask him where exactly he has locked my friend up-"

"How do you know he's locked her up?" Frowned Molly, from her seat next to Lien, at the same time that Scorpius asked, "Which friend?"

"Jayna Blackwood, and well I don't- I really wouldn't put it past James- but I know Jayna wouldn't miss tea for anything except perhaps a book signing."

"Jayna?" Scorpius asked sharply. They all looked at him. "What?"

"Do you know her?" Lydjah asked, confused. Scorpius shrugged.

"Sure. We had dinner with them fairly often. Our parents were friends I suppose.!

They were prevented from commenting by the entrance of Professor Vector into their group. "Miss Dawson- have you seen Miss Blackwood or Mr Potter?"

"No I'm trying to find them Professor. Why are they in trouble?" She almost laughed, imagining Jayna's look of horror at her first detention.

"It's becoming a rapid possibility." The Headmistress said gravely. The five smiles on each of the five students' faces slowly drained. "I suggest you all go to your Common-Rooms as soon as possible- and stay in pairs."

"Professor, what's happened-"

"I'm sorry Mr Potter but I don't fully know. I'm going to find more information- if you'll excuse me." Without another word, despite the students' protests she was gone, a whirl of blue silk trailing after her.

Lydjah turned to the four other people and said, in an urgent whisper- "Look- I'm going to try and find them- I mean they can't be out of the castle yet- anti-Apparition charms and all that. If any of you want to help meet me at the One-Eyed Witch Statue at midnight- it'll be late enough that the teachers won't check in the dorms." Before any of them could answer she had left after the professor, speaking to Lee as she stood to leave the Great Hall.

Lydjah could hardly say she was surprised when Albus and Scorpius turned up- James was Albus' brother and by association important to Scorpius. Lien and Molly's arrival, two minutes later was a little less expected but by no means unwanted- the more eyes and ears the better. Sam Andrews' arrival, however, rather blew a hole into Lydjah's plan.

"What are you doing here?" Sam hissed.

"Same thing as you probably." Scorpius said, indicating her normal not-sleep-wear outfit. She glared at him.

"Can you teach me how to change my robes like that?" Lydjah asked curiously indicating Sam's Gryffindor themed robes. Sam blinked at her.

"You want to change your robes red?"

"No blue. For Ravenclaw."

"Oh. Sure I guess." She paused and then shook her head trying to clear it. "The incantation is Multicorfors. You just think of the colour and point your wand." Lydjah shrugged off her cloak and copied the movement. To her delight, the inside of it turned blue. Sam seemed to get over her confusion and turned back to Scorpius.

" _I'm_ not entirely useless though- why did you bring a load of firsties?" Lydjah raised her eyebrows.

"Sam I think I have right to be here- James is my brother as well as your best friend." Sam softened as she looked at the younger Potter that she had spent most of the past summer with (not that Albus saw seeing as he still could not meet her eyes after the whole naked incident).

"Fine. But the other three?" Scorpius crossed his arms, not in a threatening way, it was merely casual.

"Sorry love but I'm not going anywhere without Al." Sam merely looked at him as he grinned cheekily.

"If you ever call me 'love' again I will hex you through next Tuesday, Malfoy." Lydjah snorted appreciatively. "And if you get injured it is entirely your fault. You two need to go." She finished, smiling kindly at the Hufflepuffs.

"So Malfoy is allowed to stay but as James' cousin I'm not?!" Molly whisper-shouted. Sam rolled her eyes about to argue when Lydjah cut across her.

"Look, you two can come but at the first sign of danger you bolt it and go to the headmistress ok? The password is formulae." Sam glared at Lydjah's solution.

"We're wasting time- let's go." Sam relented because Albus had in fact made a good point. Sam struggled with herself for a second and then slowly sighed.

"If we find James he's going to kill me." She muttered.

"What-" All five voices were cut off as, from underneath her robe, Sam drew out a shimmering piece of material and a piece of blank parchment.

"Invisibility cloak." Sam said gruffly. And then, reluctantly, she turned to the parchment, whispering quietly under her breath. 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.' The words were quiet enough, that even though she had revealed the map to them, at least they wouldn't be able to use it without her permission.

"Is that-"

"It's a map of Hogwarts, almost completely perfect, and it shows everyone and where they are at the present time." The five all shoved to get a better look, the two unfortunately short Hufflepuffs only seeing a corner. Molly cursed her mother's short genes- how all her other uncles and Ginny had managed to find a not vertically-challenged person and her father had not she would never be sure. "I've already scanned it for Jayna and James- but they could still be in the castle if whoever's taken them has made the room unplottable. I don't know if that works on the map or not. Here's what's going to happen- Lydjah and I, using the cloak, will look in the patrolled areas and you guys will split into pairs and do the seventh floor and the first. Ok?" No-one looked ready to argue. Lydjah nodded in agreement and grabbed the cloak.

"You coming, blondie?"

"You're blonde as well Lydjah!"

"So?" That was the last word the four first-years heard as Sam shrugged the cloak over the two of them and they vanished from sight.

 

"Blackwood, don't say that." James said strongly. His eyes flashed with something guarded but thankfully Jayna wasn't looking to ask.

"Why not?" There was a pause as Jayna sighed. "Maybe I should clarify- I wish I had died instead of my brothers."

"You had brothers?" James asked quietly. He watched uncomfortably as a tear stained the side of Jayna's face that he could see; most people crying would freak him out but a _Blackwood_ crying was just too scary for words. She leaned her head back against the wall, not looking at him as she answered.

"Two. They were five and three."

"Jayna… " The Ravenclaw flinched at the sound of her first name. "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah well there's not much I can do about it now is there? And I can't even avenge them or anything, like my sister thinks she's doing, because that would just make me hate all muggles, and probably by association, muggle-borns."

"Blackwood-"

"Potter, I'm sorry, but there is absolutely no way you can sympathise with me here. Your life has been near perfect. I'm not pretending to know everything about you and I'm sure you have problems too but at least yours are backed by being a son of Potters and Weasleys, living in a mansion of a house, being super popular and casually clever as well as having the support of your family, your best friend, the teachers and the entire student body, ok?" James stuttered for an answer but conceded in the end that she was right.

"Well I have been kidnapped you know." He said quietly. She looked at him and then snorted, both of them laughing like crazy. "And it's my birthday too."

"Really? Sorry. But, you know, Happy Birthday all the same."

"Thanks mate." Jayna wondered if he called everyone 'mate' or if she had earnt the right to it somehow.

"Is that why you did the Water Goblet prank?"

"Nah, we had a better prank planned for this evening." He sighed. This set off another round of giggles for some reason.

"Wait." James said when they'd finally calmed down. "Is 'Aleron' one of your brothers?" Jayna looked at him with a measured glance, rather glad that he remembered that, not that she'd ever admit it.

"He was." She said shortly. She seemed to shake it off and managed a weak smile. "There are Aurors in the school right now- surely they're out looking for us."

"I should hope so."

"What can we do till then?"

"What- you're not even going to try to escape?" He teased.

"You may be a sports legend Potter, but my athletic ability amounts to once scoring an accidental goal when I sneezed playing Quidditch outside with Aleron, who, may I remind you, was seven years younger and still thrashing me, and I'm about as flexible as a stone statue. I can't wriggle," Jayna Blackwood's use of the word 'wriggle' seemed to be absurdly funny to James, "out of these ropes even if I tried. My Ravenclaw wits would buy us some time if there was someone to talk to, but until then I'm relying on your Gryffindor brashness to get us out of here, and until you think of some wonderfully rash idea, I suggest playing a game of some sort to pass the time."

"What games do you know that you can play while being tied to a column?" Jayna tried desperately not to make a face.

"Oh for Hell's sake Blackwood- not that kind of game." They both snorted and were once again laughing, rather hysterically. Jayna wondered if it was normal to be having so much fun while being kidnapped. She decided, a second later, that while it wasn't, she should appreciate it while it lasted.

"I don't know- 'Would You Rather'?"

"What the Hell is that?" Jayna blinked as she tried to give a suitable explanation.

"I'll give you an example- would you rather be stranded on a desert island with someone you hate for forty years, or with someone you love for ten, but after the ten years are up you have to kill them?"

"That's a horrible question!"

"So? It's just a game."

"Fine. The person I hate because then I could just play pranks on them to amuse myself until rescue."

"Same- though minus the pranks obviously."

"Forty years though Blackwood- you're going to get very bored." She shrugged.

"Depends if I had a book." James made a face that, thankfully, she couldn't see.

"I've got one! Would you rather be rich and ugly or poor and fit?"

"Well you're obviously the former." Jayna snorted.

"Hey! Just answer the question already."

"Probably rich and ugly because I could always glamour myself pretty if it was that bad."

"Good answer. Your turn." Jayna smirked.

"Would you rather be stuck on an island, joined at the wrist with Professor Binns who would never stop talking about the Goblin Wars, but with the choice of any person you ever wanted, or remain celibate for the rest of your life?" James looked terrified at both options.

"Shit. I can't decide. I mean any girl ever? But then Professor Binns?! That's too awful a question."

"I could answer it."

"Really mate?"

"Sure. Just bring up the person you'd want most on the island."

"How would that help me?" James asked, thinking of Sam. He wasn't lying before, about feeling no romantic attachment to her whatsoever, nor did he think he ever would (discounting those few moments during September last year that had resulted in a broken nose but also a best friend), but that didn't mean that she wasn't the most important person to him. He knew that if he had to be stuck on an island with someone for the rest of his life, he'd want it to be her.

"Well the person you'd want most would be the person who could get you off the island and unattached to Professor Binns."

"And that person would be?"

"It doesn't matter does it? As long as they're capable of that, they'll be the person you want most." He blinked at her.

"Bloody Ravenclaws."

 

The assembled rescue team of six met up at the Statue, after two hours of searching.

"Any luck?" Sam asked tiredly. As most of the castle was being patrolled it meant Lydjah and her had had five times the amount of work to do- while constantly being hindered by the cloak. Lydjah had had some new 'visions', which she had kept to herself, but other than that nothing interesting had been found on their trip. The other four shook their heads.

Albus and Scorpius sat on the floor, Molly and Lien quickly joining them, all trying to hide their exhaustion.

"Hey Scorp, do you have a middle name?" Albus asked. Scorpius turned to him.

"Why do you want to know?" Albus shrugged as the four of them watched the two pacing second-years. He looked to see Scorpius' cheeks flush a slight pink and returned to their conversation with more interest.

"You have to tell me now." Scorpius shook his head. "Mate, I'm not going to judge- look what monstrosity my parents gave me for a middle name." Scorpius gave him a crooked half-smile as was usual of him.

"Itshyperion." He muttered.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Hyperion." Scorpius repeated more clearly. Albus looked at him for a second before a grin slowly spread across his face as he tried to hold in giggles. It had been a long fruitless night and the last thing Scorpius needed was his best friend laughing at him. He stood up abruptly and turned to the girls.

"I'm-"

"Wait." Sam said in a commanding voice, awe filling her tone. "That's it." She pointed a shaking finger to the Statue.

"What is?" Lydjah asked, hoping Sam hadn't gone completely insane and that it was just sleep deprivation.

"The passageway behind that statue- that's where they are."

"How do you figure that one?" Asked Lydjah as at the same time, "There's a passageway behind that statue?" Came from all the first years barring Albus, who, while he may not have been given the map, was not left entirely out of its secrets.

"No I just suggested it because I thought it would be funny what the hell do you think? And I know because this is the fourth floor corridor- and this is the only passageway on this floor. It's genius- all they'd have to do is stun the two of them and then pull them through here." To give credit where credit was due, Sam's idea was conceivable, especially as the assembled group didn't know that it had been the (Imperiused) Astronomy teacher who'd stunned the two missing second-years- in her classroom at the other side of the castle. Unfortunately, this was exactly what the kidnappers had wanted the Aurors to think.

"Do you know how to get in?" It was a fair question and Molly did not think she deserved the scathing look that Sam sent her.

"I may not be Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot or Prongs but I like to consider myself part of the third generation of Marauders and I take that as a personal insult." No-one understood what the Hell she was talking about; Lydjah still looked as if she was torn between listening to her and knocking her out and taking her to Madam Longbottom, "Of course I know how to get in." She walked over to the statue and tapped it with her wand. The others didn't catch what she said, as had been her intention, until she realised that one of them may have to get out later. "The password is Dissendium."

The witch statue had moved along until a doorway had appeared behind it. Sam led the way, lighting the tip of her wand with Lumos which everyone else copied. Lydjah shuddered as she realised it was probably the most complicated spell the first years knew, not that she considered her own spell bank to be particularly large. Lien didn't even have to duck to get through the door, something Albus found sweet and annoying at the same time (annoying more because he'd banged his head trying to get through than any feeling towards her height).

They walked slowly down the passage, the tension slowly building. No-one wanted to look back at someone else for fear of blinding them with their wand light and so it was silent apart from Sam whispering, for that was plenty loud enough in the dark corridor, about where not to put their feet. Just as Lydjah was about to explode they entered a rounder section of the passage where they could all, if they stood shoulder to shoulder, see each other.

They promptly did so, Lydjah and Sam dimming their lights because four was quite enough. "How long does this passage go on for?" Molly mused, pointing her light down the tunnel past them. The six of them froze in horror. At the edge of the circular space lay a body.

"Keep shining the light this way!" Lydjah said, carefully skirting round the rocky floor to the immobile person. She could see immediately it wasn't either of her missing persons but was still terrified as she gently touched its shoulder. Hard muscles met her touch, years of working out to build up a physique of this kind (that or steroids). An Auror.

She turned quickly to his face letting out a gasp of guilt-filled relief when she didn't recognise him. It definitely wasn't Harry. She put her fingers to his wrist, flinching away from how cold he was. Her eyes flickered back up to his face and she scrambled away in horror.

"Lydjah what is it?!" Albus yelped panicking. Lydjah swallowed, her hair making a curtain around her face.

"It's not your dad. I, er, this guy's dead." There was a stunned silence.

"I'm going to come over- I can probably identify him." Albus said quietly.

"NO!" The loud noise echoed through the chamber from all sides. "I mean, you can't-"

"Lydjah- what is it?"

"The man, his eyes- they're black- I mean, he's been strangled and all the blood's gone to his eyes and they look black." She looked green.

"Lydjah- if you're going to be sick do it somewhere else." Sam barked.

"Strangled by what?" The question was made by Scorpius. The six of them froze, looking around them for any possible attack.

"Molly, Lien; you need to go. Now. Inform Professor Vector and the Aurors- quickly. Take the cloak." There was no room in Sam's voice for argument. She threw the cloak towards them which Molly deftly caught with one hand leaving the two Hufflepuffs to skirt past Scorpius and get back to the original corridor.

Lydjah and Sam lit their wands again, the four of them searching the room for oncoming danger. Their breaths came out thick and fast in the cold room- silvery mist disappearing into the air. A shriek pierced the air as Scorpius found the source of the Auror's death. From above them, wide green vines snaked, slowly climbing down the walls towards them. The sinister way they moved reminded Lydjah of an oncoming fog rising slowly across a stormy sea. They huddled together in the middle, away from the sides of the wall, all of their lights trying to capture the entire plant.

Sam lifted her arm before Lydjah could warn her against it and stupefied the closest tendril. For a moment it seemed to have worked but Lydjah's whispered curse word warned her otherwise. Albus only managed a short yelp as he was yanked up into the air from his wrist by a faster-than-light flash of green. Scorpius' wand dropped to the floor with a soft clatter as he reached up to grab his neck, where a thick cord was squeezing the air from his lungs. Lydjah shouted spell after spell, whirling round in a circle to catch each sneaking vine, but a sharp blow to the left side of her temple knocked her out on the floor where the plant seemed content to leave her alone until it had finished off everyone else.

Sam made a dash to the exit but screamed, something very uncommon for Sam, when instead of the corridor she was faced with the toothy smile of the magical flytrap, snarling at her. A vine seized the chance to wrap snugly around her middle, pulling her upside down. She tried to twist round, searching her brain for any of the spells she had learnt over the holidays. Unfortunately for her, they were mainly prank-related; transfiguring a vine into a water-goblet for a mere five seconds wouldn't help her any; and neither would Tarantallegra as the plant didn't have any feet. Scorpius was slowly turning blue, his feet now a few inches off the floor as he struggled desperately against the thick cord around his neck. Sam waved her wand at him, managing to let off a few pitiful sparks that didn't really do anything.

"Scorpius!" Albus yelled, twisting around, his wand entrapped in the vine along with his wrist. "Scorpius!"

"Lumos Solem!" Three identical shouts filled the air, and from Scorpius' darkening vision he saw huge beams of fiery light travel through the air toward him, and thought only that his mother would kill him, should he damage his robes.


	17. Of the Hospital Wing and Sinister Voices

James awoke with a crick in his neck. He was disorientated for a moment before the events of the (day/night? No definitely night- he could see the waning moon out of the tiny window) came flooding back to him. He couldn't remember falling asleep but he supposed both he and Jayna must have dropped off at some point in their game.

He heard the sound of a door being opened from behind him and looked desperately at the still-snoring Jayna, his heart pounding with anticipation. How could they have forgotten the danger they were in? _Fat lot of good her Ravenclaw wit is when she's snoring_. He thought crossly.

"Mr Potter- we're going on a bit of a road trip." Had Jayna been awake she would have recognised the voice from the ill-fated duel many weeks ago but as it was she merely muttered a discontented murmur in her sleep. "Ah I see we have a friend… I must say the coincidence is startling; I know a lot of people who'd love to get their hands on a Blackwood. Don't worry- we'll wake her in time to watch your… Interrogation." James struggled against his bonds, twisting to see the face of the person who taunted him.

"Who are you?"

"There's no point in drawing unwanted attention to myself. I shall merely say this; we are the Night Watchers. We are far and you are few. We will have our vengeance." His kidnapper watched the boy's struggles for a moment longer and then he sighed, flicking his wand at the young Gryffindor. James went limp, his eyelids drooping into sleep again. "It would have been so much easier if you had just come nicely." He gestured at the second years with his head towards the two cloaked figures at the door. "Bring them to the lab and don't let them wake up."

 

Scorpius did not wake slowly; he woke as if from a nightmare, one moment he was lying still and the next he was bolt upright, his head smashing into Albus' nose with far too much force for Albus' liking.

"Bloody Hell!" Lydjah sniggered tiredly from the other side of the room, on the right of Sam. Sam herself would have joined in; if not for the fact she had been (kindly) knocked-out by Madam Longbottom. It wasn't that Sam was wounded (beyond the nasty vine shaped bruises round her waist), merely that she refused to be examined as she tried to pry answers from the Aurors as to the whereabouts of their friends. While all of them were worried, they still privately agreed that threatening Harry Potter with Swelling Solution possibly wasn't the best idea.

Madam Longbottom had wanted them all to sleep but she had sensed defeat looking into their tired faces. Of course, they all wanted to sleep, but until the Aurors came back with more information they would not. A type of adrenaline was coursing through their veins and the nurse was clever enough to see that, perhaps because she'd been a teenager waiting anxiously for her ill friends after a battle herself. The nurse rolled her eyes at her sentimentality getting in the way of her healing and wondered, not for the first time, why she'd taken the job in the first place. Perhaps it was because she was closer to her husband, Neville- living in a pub by yourself for nine-ish months of the year had used up even her Hufflepuff patience. Besides, she'd always loved healing, and passing on the pub to a new owner hadn't bothered her in the slightest now she was back where most of her teenage years had happened. Yes there were bad memories here, but good memories too.

"Sorry Al. You ok?" Scorpius asked. Or more tried to ask seeing as his voice had been reduced to a sliver of air parting his lips.

"Here." Lien carefully passed him a whiteboard and pen. She shrugged when everyone stared at her. "They're useful things to have around." Scorpius looked confused so, with a laugh, she reached over and undid the lid on the pen, and manoeuvred his hand so that the pen pressed against the board. He flinched visibly away from her. Lien pretended not to notice. "It's like a quill but the ink is built in. Seeing as you can't speak- you can just write it down on here."

Scorpius looked hesitant as he slowly looped his words with the pen. 'Thank you' was written neatly in the middle as he turned the board back to Lien and the flinch he had made was quickly forgiven. He repeated his question towards Albus, this time on the board.

"Yeah I'm fine Scorp. Well- I've pulled all the muscles in my wrist pretty badly but nothing's broken." Molly bumped her shoulder into Lien's. Lien startled awake from the hazy doze she had just fallen into, yet again.

"Mate, you need to get some sleep." Lien blushed.

"I'm sorry; I'm not used to adventures." The others chuckled.

"You think we are? But it doesn't matter- let's go back to the Common-Room- we can come back before classes. We'll bring you guys breakfast." She tugged on Lien's hand. Lien nodded sleepily.

"Get well so-oo-oon." She yawned. Scorpius grinned. The two Hufflepuffs departed, Lien leaning heavily on Molly.

'What happened?' Scorpius' simple question pretty much summed up the majority of everyone's thoughts (excluding Sam who was having a rather bizarre dream about flying carrots). Lydjah made her way unsteadily over to the two of them but neither of the boys noticed her wobble.

"We were being attacked by that huge-ass plant thingy then Harry Potter comes running in like a rampaging stallion of fire-" Albus' half-choked laugh at Lydjah's description of his dad left all of them sniggering (in Scorpius' case silently) for a moment before Lydjah regained enough composure to continue her… Unique telling of the story. "Anyway- turns out this plant hates fire- it was apparently some spawn of Devil's snare and a flytrap that Professor Longbottom's been messing around with-"

"Oh give the poor guy a break he's already apologised." Albus tried.

"Figures you'd like him seeing as he's round at your house every two seconds." Lydjah retorted. "So then you black out and keep muttering about your robes," Scorpius flushed slightly, "and Harry drags us all off to the hospital wing-" It was the first time Scorpius noticed the large bandage covering Lydjah's head.

'What happened to you?' Was written carefully on his whiteboard. Lydjah shrugged.

"Got hit from behind by one of the plant's arm thingys-" She could have given a much better explanation of the 'plant's arm thingys' but she'd found that when not speaking to other Ravenclaws it was much easier to give the most simplistic version because then they wouldn't ask her for the definition for all the words, and besides- who uses words like 'mutated elongated tendrils' in normal conversation except Jayna? "Madam Longbottom thinks I have concussion but I don't really see it." Albus and Scorpius shared a look as Lydjah swayed from where she was sitting. She started to giggle- something not very like Lydjah who usually laughed in great peals at loud volume. "There's six Slytherins sitting. Say that seven times fast. Six Slytherins sitting, Six Sllerin sitting-"

"Hey Lydjah, maybe you should go back to bed." Her laughter immediately stopped and she gave him one incredulous look of complete outrage before her eyes rolled back into her head and she slumped to the floor. "Madam Longbottom!"

The matron came bustling out of her office and tutted loudly when she saw Lydjah.

"You mind helping me Albus?" He shrugged and between the two of them (three working hands) they half-dragged, half-carried Lydjah onto the closest bed. "Silly girl," She said, smiling kindly down at Lydjah, "I told her not to get up. She'll have to stay here for another day at least and if any of you wake her up then you'll be leaving before you can say 'thanks a lot Hannah'!" The two Slytherins blinked in unison. Madam Longbottom bustled back to her office, muttering something about a cure for the 'pounding headache that poor girl is going to have'. The Slytherins shrugged and returned to their conversation.

'We're not geting detention?' Was Scorpius' next question.

"Nah. Dad told the teachers we'd been attacked outside the statue not inside the passageway, and though we all got a lecture about being out of bed that I'm supposed to pass on to you and a few house points knocked off they thought we'd 'suffered enough for our idiocy'." Scorpius grinned.

'What happened after Harry got us all back here?'

"It took some going I'll tell you that- dad was carrying you and Lydjah- I don't know how he managed it. But we got back here and Madam Longbottom was not very pleased to be woken up so late, and dad's refused to tell us anything- even when Sam threatened him-"

'Andrews threatened him?'

"Yeah." Albus said with a chuckle, looking fondly at his brother's best friend. James hadn't spoken to him since Sam's birthday when Sam had tried, and failed, to get them to be friends again. He liked Sam, not like that, but as an ally against his brother's huge head. They both helped to deflate it when needs be. "With swelling solution. Threatened to pour it some place unpleasant. Why she had swelling solution in the first place I have no idea. And since then we've just been waiting for you to wake up and my dad to get back to us." Scorpius could sense Albus' frustration.

'What is it?'

"Nothing. It's just… I know it's more important that my dad and his team get information before us and I know we're not much use- being firsties and all. But James is my brother too- not just his son. I wish he would trust me a bit more." Scorpius didn't really know what to say to that so he just punched Al's shoulder lightly. It was apparently the right thing to do because he grinned wryly. "I think he's upset about you too."

'Why?' The word had been written a couple of times and then wiped away before he finally left it for Al to see.

"Because you're Draco's son. And dad _thinks_ that he would never stoop as low as to judge people based on their parents, but then he never expected for us to be friends." Scorpius couldn't help the small grin that lit up his face. His eyes were clearly dancing with a 'screw him' look. The two friends chortled until Albus looked at his watch with a cry of 'Bloody Merlin!'. Albus didn't usually swear so Scorpius just looked at him in amusement.

"I was supposed to meet Rose like three hours ago. She's going to kill me!"

'Rose?'

"Yeah Rose Weasley; my cousin. We were supposed to be studying for the mini Defence test. Hey, if you're out of here in time you could join us- I'm sure I'll be able to persuade her to reschedule." Scorpius tried to tamp down his excitement using the great technique of denying he was excited at all.

'Sure, why not?'


	18. Of Lydjah's Visions and Eventual Realisations

It was not until the next day when the six of them finally met up, and where could they meet but the courtyard alcove, that the Aurors finally decided to give them some answers.

"I thought I'd find you here." The six of them spun round to stare at Harry. At his sides stood two other Aurors although Albus knew that his dad had probably got others scouring the grounds. The first of the two Aurors Albus knew, obviously; Audrey Weasley, his aunt, and the second, Dean Thomas, he had met briefly at Christmas parties. Harry had become the Head of the Department ten years ago now (Merlin that made him feel old), after Rufus Scrimgeour's replacement (discounting the Death Eater sympathiser who had taken over for a bit), Vrain Truh, had been killed fighting what they hoped was the last still-faithful Death Eater left.

Al looked at his father with a measured stare, a stare Harry was not sure where he had learnt but had always had, something he was sure his namesake had somehow passed on to him, because Albus Potter never acted anything like Professor Dumbledore except in this one thing- this one x-ray look- and Harry had always felt a rush of affection for his old Headmaster whenever Al directed it at him. And then Albus was wrapping his arms softly around him- Albus was not a person who hugged like their life depended on it- except, of course, that day at the station- and Harry breathed out a sigh of relief as he tousled his son's hair.

He wasn't sure how he felt about his son and Malfoy's being friends. But Harry knew he'd seen the struggle for redemption in Draco's eyes, that's why he'd cleared him and his family- well his mother and father had spent a month in Azkaban but their wands had been given back to them and none of their wealth had been taken. They had repented and so had he. But best friends with his son?

"Dad I know you're just trying to look out for me but you haven't even met him yet- seeing him unconscious is not the same- I'd say the cliché of 'give him a chance' but really I think you need to realise that Scorp is an entirely different person to his father, despite the shared genes, and I would have thought that you, of all people, would have understood how hard it is to escape a name- with your Godfather being Sirius Black and all." Harry gaped at him. Albus gave a short burst of laughter. "I've always been able to read you dad; you're like an open book." Harry joined in his laugh and the awkward tension was broken. Harry looked over at Scorpius with new eyes and stuck a hand out in this direction.

"I don't think I've ever heard my son speak so much in one go- so you must be worth quite a bit. I'm sorry for judging." Scorpius uncertainly shook his hand. "Lien, I remember, we've met, and Molly of course, congratulations on Hufflepuff, Sam, good to see you, and who are you?" He finished his round with Lydjah, who stood a little off to the side. She looked up suddenly, but her eyes were terribly unfocused.

"That's Lydjah." Sam supplied. "You'll have to excuse her- she hasn't quite recovered from her concussion yet- she's only around for a few minutes at a time before she goes back to this. But she insisted on coming."

"That's not a normal reaction to concussion." Harry said with concern. His memory drifted back to a stuffy classroom and a crazy lady with huge glasses.

"Yes well I'm not the most normal of people. I really hope you have something to say Mr Famous, you know, preferably before my best friend is found dead in a corridor like your mate." Lydjah snapped. The gathering looked at her in astonishment but she'd already unfocused again.

"She doesn't mean it like that; Dale is- was a good guy. She's just terrified for Jayna." Harry nodded, but Dale's sightless eyes were another image that would add to his nightmares. That's part of the reason he took up the job-a good sleep was not a luxury you could often afford when you were an Auror- and the less he slept the less he dreamt.

"She's right- time is of the essence- and I do have something to tell you. The plant… Dale's death- they were all set-up. They knew the last sighting of them was on the fourth floor so they assumed we'd go into that passageway just like you did. It was a distraction and so far our searches have done nothing but confirm it succeeded. Do not think that it was your fault- we were about to go down that passageway ourselves I promise you- it is not your fault." Molly and Lien were always quick to forgive- and that meant themselves and everyone else. Lydjah had already thought over the night and decided that there really was not anything else they could have done, except perhaps remember a first-year spell. _That's just embarrassing._ She thought sourly. Albus felt guilty- because this was his brother that had gone missing- but if anyone could figure his way out of an impossible situation it was his dad so surely he had some of those genes? Scorpius hadn't blamed himself to begin with- really what exactly was the point of assigning blame anyway? But Sam, because of her Gryffindor heart, and the fact that it was her who had drawn up the dots to connect them to the statue, knew that if any harm came to James, or even Jayna, she would feel it upon herself tenfold.

Sam was the reason Harry had even bothered telling them not to blame themselves, and Harry knew that it wouldn't work, just as it had never worked on him. He had wondered why people had even bothered and then he'd realised it was because they had no choice but to try.

"Your caretaker insists that no-one left the school, and as you probably know no-one can Apparate out of Hogwarts," Molly quietly explained to Lien what Apparition was as they continued to listen, "but it's unlikely they are still in the school. As I'm sure some of you are aware," he said with a smile at Sam, "there are passages out of this school that don't involve Apparition but I had set up charms over the known ones to alert me to their use. It didn't go off when you went in that one because Dale was guarding it so I didn't put one there. Speaking modestly, my inherited knowledge of the tunnels out of this school is quite extensive, so if they got out I have no idea how."

"They're in Hogsmeade. A basement- there's desks lining the walls- it appears to be some kind of lab. They're tied up and unconscious but don't look like they've been harmed yet." Again, the group stared at Lydjah whose eyes finally came back into focus. "I'm sorry that's all I can give you." She sucked in a breath quickly. "Other than be quick. Please be quick."

"How do you-"

"I'm a seer yes great let's get over it- go." She gestured with her hands. Audrey looked to be about to protest but Harry just nodded and gestured with his head for his team to leave the alcove.

"I'll see you later. Be safe." He said to Al and then left after them.

"You're a seer?!" Sam asked. Lydjah laughed bitterly.

"Not a very good one. Most of the time I just see people snogging in broom closets."

"The first day of term," Sam realised. "That's what you were seeing."

"Yeah. This concussion seems to have brought out more skills than I thought I had. I think… Look you all have to promise you won't tell anyone- I don't want everyone asking me who they're going to snog in the future- it's gross enough seeing it." All of them nodded. "Ok does one of you have a quill and a bit of parchment?"

"Why?" She ignored the question.

"Merlin I hate doing this." From her bag Lydjah hoisted a huge crystal ball that she'd, er, borrowed from the Divination classroom. She stared at it like it was a vile slug of some sort but stared at it nonetheless.

"Doing what?" Lydjah screwed up her face in concentration and then her eyes widened in fear before turning completely cloudy- like she was blind. Her voice was not her own, it echoed; like she was speaking into a fan. Sam wasn't exactly sure but she'd had a seeing done over the summer at the Wizarding fair in London, and the man who'd done it did not look anything like this. Lydjah swayed.

Sam pulled out a quill and Lien wordlessly handed her some parchment.

"One from each house,  
"And one each again,  
"They will have the power to bring about its downfall,  
"Or the school's salvation,  
"But beware, on the day of the lunar moon,  
"The eagle and the lion will lie together,  
"But they will both die alone."

"What the actual fuck just happened?" Whispered Sam.

"Lydjah?" Molly asked hesitantly. Lydjah's eyes cleared and then she raised her eyebrows in a question.

"What the hell just happened?"

"That's what I said." Sam gestured between the two of them.

"I'm pretty sure you made a prophecy." That was Molly, looking spooked but not disgusted as Lydjah feared. When she'd told Jayna, well, she hadn't told her; Jayna had found out, but whatever; Jayna had been ridiculously gleeful when Lydjah admitted she'd seen Jayna in a vision with some guy, although she had refused to tell her who it was. And then, nine months later, she'd held her friend as she'd begged Lydjah to try and see if any of her family had escaped. And then she'd collapsed to the floor and screamed when Lydjah had told her that all she could see was darkness.

"I did? Did you get it down?"

"Yeah." Sam said, looking down at her crazy scrawl. Lydjah looked over the words.

"One from each house and one each again? That's the eight of us." Sam blinked; it seemed to have only just occurred to her that two people from each house were involved in whatever this was. "The next two lines seem pretty self-explanatory- either we're going to save the school-"

"Or destroy it?" Asked Lien timidly.

"Yeah. And then-" Sam snorted interrupting her.

"So you predicted that James is going to have sex with either you or Jayna on the 'lunar' moon and then die?" Lydjah found that laughing about it was probably easier than worrying.

"It sounds like one of us has chlamydia or something." Sam and Lydjah burst into loud chortles. Albus and Scorpius joined in, sniggering (Scorpius' voice was now a hoarse whisper but at least it existed). Molly and Lien seemed kind of horrified but managed a weak giggle each.

"Well at least we know James is going to survive long enough to do that." That sobered the mood slightly.

"Maybe it's more literal. Maybe simply falling asleep together..." Albus hedged. Sam and Lydjah sent him a sympathetic look and he scowled.

"Prophecies are never this easy to decipher." Lydjah acknowledged after a moment. "I bet all our predictions will end up being false. Besides 'lunar' moon? Aren't all moons lunar?" She paused for a second. "Sorry I was trying to get more information- it seems to me like I've just given us more worry. But we can't tell James about this- it'll make him wary of ever being with anyone, which might not seem like such a bad thing when he's 13 years old, but when he's older? Just let him off the hook, yeah? And we'll just be wary of his relationships for him- especially you Sam."

"You're asking me to keep a secret from James that could potentially endanger his life?"

"Yes." Sam glared at her.

"Ok." Albus raised his eyebrows at Sam's easy consent. "But if I ever think he needs to be told we'll reconvene on this."

"Alright. I'm not telling Jayna either- the less she distances herself from people the better."

The six of them agreed and then Sam called for an awkward group hug that they all eventual managed to persuade Scorpius to join in with, and it ended up being not that awkward at all.

 

Lydjah was worried when, five hours later, Sam was not at dinner. She'd been let out of the Hospital Wing now completely normal (again- Madam Longbottom was not pleased when she'd returned from their meeting) just in time for it, so she knew Sam wasn't in there. Sure, she had no idea if Sam often skipped meals or not, but Lydjah trusted her intuition more than the average person, and decided she might as well put the map she'd carefully nicked from her to good use. She hadn't nicked it to use it, more just so she could wave it in front of her with a grin to say that she'd managed to steal something off Sam Andrews, but the opportunity hadn't come up and Lydjah thought keeping it for longer would be rude.

She searched the floors on the map from a not very regularly used corridor (Sam had had the map activated when Lydjah nicked it; Lydjah still didn't know the password), finally finding Sam on the second floor in a room Lydjah was almost sure did not exist. She made her way there and, sure enough, there was nothing but a blank wall in front of her. She wondered if Sam had managed to edit the map to conceal her true location as she rested against the wall.

It was rather unsettling to be leaning against a solid wall and then suddenly finding yourself somewhere else. She turned and found Sam staring entranced into a huge mirror.

"Like the barrier in Kings Cross?" Lydjah asked. Sam jumped, spinning to face her with a look of panic. "You ok?"

Sam took a deep breath of relief. "Yeah I'm fine. And yeah it's like the barrier in Kings Cross. I thought I'd check it out- I mean I was going to wait for James but then… Wait is that the map?" Lydjah grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry?" Sam socked her in the arm and took the map but she was smiling.

"I'm impressed. You and Jayna- you're not the nerds I thought you were."

"Shhh. You'll ruin our disguise!" Lydjah said in fake-outrage. The two second-years laughed. "What's with the mirror?" Sam's expression was closed again.

"It's the mirror of Erised."

"Really? I thought that was moved from our school years ago."

"Yeah so did I. Guess if they told us that we never would try to look for it would we?"

"That's a good point. Maybe you're not the dumb jokester I thought you were." Sam grasped her chest in horror.

"Not a dumb jokester? However will I get over this insult?" Lydjah looked at her properly and noticed the red rims around her eyes.

"Hey Sam, have you been crying?" Sam sniffed turning her face away.

"No." The response was muffled and obviously false. "It's been great talking to you. See you around." Before Lydjah could say anything Sam had whirled into the wall on her right and disappeared. She considered going after her but knew that whatever was wrong with Sam could not be solved until her best friend had been rescued. Or whatever.

She took five careful steps forward and looked into the glass.


	19. Of Bad Memories and Awful Escape Attempts

When Harry and his team had been called back to the Auror office just after they had finally got some information on his son's whereabouts, unproven yes but still information, he was pissed to say the least. But then he was given the new, proved, information that the office had received, and he'd gone from worried to terrified.

This was why he was now being physically restrained by his sister-in-law and old friend Dean. "Harry what exactly are you trying to do?"

"Rescue- my- son!" He yelled with difficultly.

"Harry will you stop struggling!" Audrey never yelled so Harry actually stopped. "Now," She said, huffing as she blew a piece of her frizzy dark hair out of her eyes, "we need a plan. And you can't come." He started to struggle again.

"Harry, stop!" Dean snarled.

"Fine. Why can't I come?" He was aware that he sounded sulky.

"Because of the rule you made up? 'If there's a chance of the Auror being emotionally compromised, they aren't allowed on the mission unless there are no other available Aurors.'"

"Why's Audrey allowed to go then?"

"She's not. You're both going to stay here with the rest of the back-up group. As protocol states; we'll send a message if you're needed. We'll Apparate with the kids to the usual place and get them back to Hogwarts by Floo."

"Is he expecting you?"

"Is he ever?" Dean laughed. Harry bit his lip and the two of them looked on expectantly. Finally he nodded but grasped Dean's shoulder before he could move away.

"Just… Merlin Dean, just bring them back, alright?"

"You got it boss." Then Dean was gone out the door, the fate of Harry Potter's son in his hands. So no pressure then.

"Harry, the rule's a good one. I know why you did it- after Sirius-" She cut herself off, wincing. Harry spoke of the father figures in his life with more fondness than pain now but there were some moments that most were wise enough not to mention. Halloween, for example; Harry had never fully celebrated seeing as that was the day he designated to visiting his parents' graves. His kids usually stayed with one of their Uncles and went out with their kids. "I'm sorry I didn't mean-"

"Audrey it's fine." But his eyes spoke of the sadness that had plagued him for months after the War had finally ended. She often thought that out of the family, Percy and her were always a little off to the side; the last people they called when something happened, the last people to get invitations to a family gathering. Especially as no-one knew who she was until Percy had started dating her. But she'd saved Harry's life more than once now and he'd saved her's more than she cared to count. "You're right. I just hope he brings them home."

"He won't have to- I'd be unbelievably shocked if James hadn't helped with their escape, as it were." Privately she thought it much more likely that James would throw himself recklessly head-first into a fight with his kidnappers if he got the opportunity but saw no sense in mentioning this to Harry. "And if the other one; Jayna, is anything like that Ravenclaw we met earlier I'm sure she'll be just fine."

 

"Potter, Potter!" Hissed behind barred teeth, clenched in anxiety.

"Mmm go ungwayyy."

"Potter!"

"I'll be up in a minute…"

"James Sirius Potter you _will_ open your eyes before I rip them from your overly large head!" That was a snarl and it woke him up. He blinked a couple of times as he realised he no longer had his glasses and he'd been gripping someone's hand in his sleep. His eyes travelled up to her extraordinarily angry face and he winced. "Get your bear paws off me- we need a plan."

"'Bear paws'?" He protested weakly. She glared. It depressed him that she was at her most pretty when she was angry- she widened her usually unseen bright ocean eyes that spat rage with a single glance and her whole face became animated, focused; she never looked more alive.

She thought he looked ridiculous without his glasses.

He let go of her hand.

"He said- well they spoke about killing me for a bit but you're right I'm sorry they want to use me as leverage. But they're using you as leverage too."

"What do you mean?"

"They don't want you. They want your Dad."

Dean wasn't the greatest at acting inconspicuous but he had turned out to be good at sneaking. He could be very light on his feet when he wanted to be and right now, well, he wanted to be. Half of their group were quietly going round the back with him, hoping to find another entrance to the basement that did not involve bursting through the house, while the other half burst through the house. They'd seen Him go in, so at least they knew they were in the right place. He was no Voldemort, but he was a threat, and Dean's job was to neutralise threats- not people- just the threat, though of course that sometimes did mean the people too. So far they'd had no luck in finding a door down- but at least they'd found one in.

Guess it was time for plan B.

"Oh shit."

"My sentiments exactly. We've got to get out of here- Muggle torture methods are not good at all."

"Oh let me guess your family-"

"Would never sink so 'low' as to torture with Muggle devices or in the house? I know this from films dumb-ass– not everything about me has a tragic backstory." He lowered his gaze, ashamed. "You do not want to know where they want to stick that." She said, gesturing with her chin at the rather formidable lab-table to his left. There were several of them lining the walls. He couldn't quite see the items on the table as the light was terrible;(and so was his eyesight (he probably wouldn't have known they were lab tables if she hadn't told him)) one neon light-bulb on the other side of the room- and he was still tied to something as well as Jayna, but he could conclude that he was fairly sure she was correct; he did not want to know.

"Ok then. Any ideas?" A cheeky grin lit up her face and she waved her right hand in the air. Her right, free, untied hand. He looked closer (squinted really) and saw the rope burns that covered her wrist- one was bleeding quite profusely. She noticed him looking and lowered her hand.

"It's fine; Madam Longbottom will heal them in a heartbeat. I was going to try an undo my other hand but you were kind of blocking me."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Nevermind; you're awake now. I just have to work quickly- if I undo one of your hands first you can do your own right?"

"Hopefully?" She ignored his hesitation and twisted in her remaining bonds. Her feet had been tied together just like his were; one of her hands tied to his, her left to his right, and then a longer rope had tied his left to her right around the back of yet another pillar. There were also two ropes that looped round their chests and stomachs. The rope that tied his left was still attached to his wrist but was no longer so tight on account of Jayna releasing her hand. She scrabbled at their wrists, but luckily she was an obsessive nail biter and so had no nails to scratch him with. He could barely think past how hungry he was, and how hoarse his voice sounded from lack of water.

"Whoever did this clearly had no idea how to tie knots." She said smugly as after ten minutes of struggling the rope finally came free. He caught her wrist and she hissed in pain.

"Sorry mate. Look you need to get that bandaged up- I'm not having you bleeding to death on me." She looked at him properly and pulled her wrist free before he could pick up on her racing pulse. Now was not the time.

"With what?" He searched around him uselessly. She sighed. "You've never seen a Muggle film have you?" He looked confused. "I was being polite. Are we going to use a bit of your shirt or of mine?" He blinked and she burst out laughing. "Mine then."

She reached down to her waist, untucked her shirt with difficulty considering the ropes and then tried to tear some away. She'd accidentally ripped a little more than was needed which left her stomach on display till she yanked her jumper down again. She held her wrist out to him. He was staring at her, wondering if she'd gone insane while he was asleep. What on earth was she doing?

"Wrap it around my wrist twice then tie it up." The poor bewildered Gryffindor did as she asked and then slowly reached down to continue untying his legs. She followed his lead and had freed herself pretty quickly, but James didn't seem to be able to undo the last few knots round his ankles. She jumped up with a groan; staying in the same position for hours on end had given her awful cramps.

She did a quick survey of the room. As well as the lab-tables two tall cupboards filled with who-knows-what potions stood opposite her. If she knew what they were it was possible she could use them to help fuel their escape, but she didn't trust her Potions knowledge well enough to experiment. Shadows danced on the wall because the one window in the room was a porthole into what looked like a mini reservoir. She was good at swimming but she didn't know if there was a gap between the top of the water and the ceiling and she knew breaking the window would be way too loud. She froze as she saw the slumped figure in the corner of the room but realised he was asleep from his soft snores. She allowed herself a small laugh of triumph before she turned back to James. That reminded her.

"I'm sorry about not 'waking up' earlier." She said.

"What?"

"You know when we were in that other basement? I figured he'd shoot me with a sleeping spell as well so I pretended I was still asleep so I could listen to them." He blinked.

"Wow. You really are a Ravenclaw aren't you?" She snorted.

"The guy who kidnapped us- he's the one that attacked us in September. I don't know why he'd attack us if he wants your Dad but the fact remains. He was also using a magically distorted voice; someone's paranoid about us recognising him. I didn't get a look at him because I had to keep my eyes shut unfortunately."

"I thought you couldn't remember most of the attack."

"I can't. But I remember his voice." She gave an involuntary shiver. "Anyway, he knows that your Dad was one of the guys patrolling so he'll be one of the ones in the Auror rescue attempt. I don't know how they're going to find us but we've got to assume they'll attack sooner or later and I will not be used as leverage to bring Harry Potter down."

"I would've thought you'd hate my Dad."

"Why because half my family spent years trying to kill him? Nah, I agree with Harry- I've read the biographies; Voldemort was an idiot. Clearly it's wrong to support someone who manages to capture his enemy almost every year of his teenage life but spends the entire time he has him talking instead of actually killing the guy." James gave a shocked laugh. "I don't think this guy was a Death Eater though, unless 'Nightwatchers' are the new Death Eaters, so I don't know why he wants your Dad."

The slumped figure in the corner took that moment to try and roll over which ended with him falling off his chair and waking up. The two second-years froze as he looked blearily up at them. Before James could think to do anything except wave his arms uselessly, Jayna had punched the man in the face and knocked him out cold.

"Fucking Merlin! That hurts so much more than I thought it was going to do. Shit!" As well as a bandaged wrist Jayna now had a swelling purple finger that James would bet his wand was broken. Jayna laughed happily as she bent down to search his pockets with her one still-working hand. Her mood changes were beginning to scare him. In one pocket he had both their wands and two pairs of glasses one of which Jayna eagerly snatched as she passed James' wand and his pair back to him.

"I didn't know you wore glasses."

"I don't." She looked like she was going to leave it there and then she sighed and relented. "These were my brother's. Because of the fire they're the only things I have left of him."

"Oh."

"Yeah I'm not a half-blind freak like you." She said, easily mending the awkwardness as she searched his other pocket, quickly finding her parents' rings and surprisingly her earrings as well, all of which she picked up with a shrug. "Why don't you just fix your eyesight? I'm sure your parents can afford it." James blushed. She conjured a chain with her wand, glad to see it still worked, and then threaded the rings on as she pushed her earrings back in. They were tiny snitches that's wings opened out when the wearer was outside. James followed her lead, lighting the tip of his wand with a muttered 'Lumos' as he fought to avoid the question.

"Didn't know you were a Quidditch fan Blackwood." He said, gesturing to her earrings.

"I'm not really; these are supposed to represent the Bent-Winged Snitches, you know the band? I'm obsessed with them. But Quidditch… I hate playing but I do support the Holyhead Harpies." He looked at her in shock. "What?"

"I support the Holyhead Harpies."

"Really? Why?"

"My Mum played for them so our family's always supported them."

"Oh." He slipped on his glasses and Jayna remembered her question.

"You didn't answer why you don't fix your eyesight." He shrugged and then, when Jayna gave him an inquisitive look, rolled his eyes.

"Well… I figure I look more like my Dad with glasses."

"Oh." He laughed once. "What?"

"I was just thinking- your Gryffindor side seems to be showing. Who knew Jayna Blackwood would cut her own wrist to get out of a rope and then knock someone out?"

"Ravenclaws can knock people out too you know. We just don't do it very often so we can savour the look of complete shock on your faces." She walked back over to him, studying the knots.

"I take back what I said earlier- I underestimated his knot-tying skills."

"What are we going to do?" She chewed her lip.

"I could set fire to the knots."

"And my legs? No thank you."

"Have you got a better idea?" She snapped. He was stumped because she was right.

"Fine." He said after a moment. "Just please, please be careful."

"Sure." She steadied her wand hand and carefully pointed to the huge tangle of knots. " _Incendio_!" Flames licked up the dry ropes. James, overcome by instinct, flinched and tried to jerk his foot away, succeeding only in setting his trousers alight. " _Aguamenti_!" Jayna said quickly, putting out the flames with another flick of her wrist. The flames had done their work but James also had a nasty burn on the inside of his foot. He winced as he brushed the ashes away from his feet. "You idiot." Jayna said crossly. She brightened a moment later, whirling back to the unconscious guard. She rustled around in his pockets again and came out with her watch and a small pot. She hurried over to his side and undid the lid. An overpowering smell of lavender assaulted his nostrils but he decided he rather liked it. Her face was hidden from his view as she scooped some of the sweet-smelling ointment out of the pot, so he found himself staring unabashedly at her short curtain of dark hair, wondering just how dead he'd be if she hadn't been here.

He flinched again as she rubbed some over the burn but relaxed in relief as the hot skin cooled. "What is that?" He asked, amazed.

"Burn cream." She said, as if it were obvious. She shrugged. "I always carry it with me along with a load of other useful items. I wonder why our guard's been given all of them. A bit too convenient don't you think? You wait here for a minute and your burn should be completely healed- I paid a lot of money for this. Did you have anything in your robe pockets you want back?"

"Nah I just had a couple of spare quills, maybe a dungbomb or two. I have plenty more of them back in Hogwarts." She rummaged through another one of his pockets, coming to the conclusion that he, like her, must have an extension Charm on them, as she pulled out her blue umbrella. She sighed and with regret placed the umbrella back on the floor- the man didn't seem to have either of their robes and she didn't have any other pockets in which to put it in, and she hadn't quite learnt the feather-light Charm yet.

" _Reducio_!" She shrank the pot and then the glasses, slipping the glasses around the chain and holding the pot in her broken hand. She'd never practiced Episkey, and didn't really want to test it out when they were still in danger.

She turned back to James who was now stood and grinning as he flexed his foot. On instinct she stepped close to him and gave him an awkward half-hug that he didn't have the chance to even consider returning before she'd pulled away. "This was probably the most fun kidnapping I'll ever experience." She said with a laugh.

"You're not half-bad Blackwood." He allowed.

"Thanks." They shared a look and then, together, they threw open the door and charged up the stairs, as quietly as it is possible for an athletic person and a very non-athletic clumsy person with a damaged arm to charge.

 

Dean enjoyed duelling. He also enjoyed fighting like a Muggle. And he found in wizard duels it was often helpful to try hitting them in the face before they could fire a spell at you because most of them never expected it. His team had burst into the house from both sides, cornering the opposition into one room where they could quickly dispatch of them all. It had turned out to be harder than expected because there was plenty of ridiculously expensive furniture for them to hide behind inside and Dean was getting increasingly worried when they couldn't find a door to the cellar. He whirled and fired a stunning spell which hit the man directly in the chest as he dodged to avoid one sent by Nigel Wolpert.

Suddenly there was an earth-shattering scream.

 

Jayna had thought their unspoken plan had gone rather well; peg it up the stairs quietly then find the door and listen to see if there was anyone outside. The walls were a horrible mix of puce and grey and the stairs went up in a square-spiral. The stairs themselves were dimly lit; James was sure that when they finally reached the light again he wouldn't be able to see from having been trapped in the dark so long. Jayna tripped more than once but was always saved by James' Quidditch reflexes. (He wasn't on the team yet, something he was very annoyed at, but there were so many ridiculously good Quidditch players in Gryffindor- they hadn't lost the Quidditch cup since Harry left. His older cousin Fred had been basically guaranteed a place this year as a Beater though and Dominque and Louis were already on their respective house teams (Ravenclaw and Gryffindor) as Chasers.)

They heard a thump on the ceiling above them, sounding suspiciously like someone just hit with a body-bind. Jayna put her hand out to make him stop and listen. Faintly they could hear the shouts of a wand-fight taking place.

"The Aurors." James breathed.

"About bloody time." James paled suddenly.

"My Dad." He took off at a sprint, not waiting to see if Jayna was following and making no effort to be quiet.

It hadn't occurred to either of them that there would be someone sitting on the inside of the door.

The two people stood up from their positions, their wands raised high. James came to a screeching halt, Jayna a few seconds later, her lungs desperately trying to suck in air. One figure was taller than the other by at least half a foot. The other was a female, the first they had seen working for this… Cause. James peered through the darkness, hoping to recognise them but could see no more than vague outline. They were being clever really, hiding their identities. Jayna felt the sting of tears clogging her throat. They'd been so close. Close enough that she could forget about the horrors they'd spoken of. The torture they wished to inflict. She didn't even bother to get her wand out. Her death. James' death. She'd failed.

"Naughty little children." James bristled at the condescendence is his tone. "I think they need to be taught a lesson in manners."

"You speak of manners after you made me miss a whole day of classes? I don't know if you can remember your second year at Hogwarts but let me tell you the homework load is appalling." Jayna had long since decided she'd go down using up what little sass she possessed. She wasn't a very sassy person, occasionally she used sarcasm but normally she just spoke her mind.

"Yeah and Quidditch try-outs are tomorrow, seeing as Kingston was only given the job after Wood got sent to St Mungos. You haven't given me any time to practice!" Jayna snorted. Unlike her, James was twirling his wand between his fingers as if he didn't have a care in the world. Jayna let hers drop from her sleeve to her left hand, leaving the feeling of defeat in the back of her mind. She knew they weren't going to win this, obviously, especially as she'd be duelling left-handed but James was right in what he was doing; going down with no fight at all was not an option either.

"As if you need it." She muttered under her breath. He beamed. Jayna knew riling them up probably wasn't the best idea but come on they were twelve/thirteen years old for Merlin's sake. It's hardly like they'd need to use Unforgiveables. One twitch of their wands and they would never be able to escape.

Unfortunately for Jayna, while they might not need to, both of them rather liked the surge of power that came from using them. " _Crucio_!" Two identical shots of red light hit Jayna directly in the chest. She didn't even have time to twitch the wand in her wrist. She screamed, her feet falling out from underneath her and she fell to the ground, her body curling into itself even while it spasmed, causing her knee to hit her chin with such force that she dislodged a tooth. She felt as if white-hot knives were stabbing into each part of her body at the same time. Not that she knew what white-hot knives being stabbed into her felt like, but she figured that if she had to compare it to something it would be that. She started to choke on the metallic taste of blood in her mouth spewing bits of tooth and blood onto the floor.

Actually, the spell itself was rather amazing. Well horrible, of course, but the intense dosage of pain all over the body at the same time? And completely evenly spread too. There wasn't any other spells like that.

She stopped wondering and immediately the pain was all she could think about again. James stood frozen and completely useless, watching Jayna cringe into the floor.

The door burst open hitting the woman square in the face and breaking the other person's concentration. Jayna collapsed, limp. Dean Thomas burst through the door, grabbed James' wrist and pulled him to another Auror. Before James could do much more than blink he was being pulled through a long tube that crushed his head and turned his stomach. He tried to close his eyes from the whirlwind of images that launched at them but was unable to do so. He couldn't breathe either.

Suddenly the pressure released and he was stood in a sunny street, holding the hand of Nigel Wolpert. He let go and puked into the gutter. Wolpert grabbed his elbow and moved them onto the opposite pavement.

"Lovely." Nigel said with distaste. "Are you alright?"

"Where's Blackwood?"

"Who?"

"Jayna Blackwood. The girl I was with? The one who was screaming?"

"She's a Blackwood?" He looked murderous. "We should leave her there to rot." James frowned at him but was prevented from answering by the arrival of Jayna herself, as well as half a dozen Aurors. Jayna was still unconscious.

"Kirke take the girl to St Mungos- tell them she was hit with the Cruciatus curse. Pemberly, tell the boss his son's safe. Wolpert take James back up to Hogwarts. The rest of you, come back with me. We'll go collect Peters."

The Aurors nodded and Apparated away again leaving James alone with Wolpert.

"Come with me." Wolpert went to the nearest house, number four, and rang the doorbell. A large, grinning man answered the door, a small girl clinging to his leg. She was on the pudgy side, but very cute. The man had small, piggy eyes, and thin blonde hair. James gaped at him.

"Uncle Dudley?" His Uncle (or second-cousin; he preferred Uncle; he already had too many cousins, though, then again, he had too many Uncles as well) seemed just as surprised to see James. James had never met him, only seen him in the Christmas cards they received every year. He knew that Dudley had married one of his father's exes- because his mother often brought it up with a laugh- and that he'd had a girl about two years younger than Lily, called Megan, but that was about it. He understood that his father had a rocky relationship with Dudley in the past but that they were on amicable terms now, although they rarely interacted.

"What happened?" Dudley asked Nigel, his eyes not leaving James.

"Need to know Mr Dursley, sorry. If we could…?"

"What? Oh yes of course, come in." He gently moved his daughter out of the way so that the two wizards could walk in. Nigel seemed to know where he was going and walked straight to the living-room where a huge fireplace stood.

"I don't understand." James said slowly.

"Your Uncle has provided us with a safe house- it's in a Muggle town in the middle of nowhere- no-one would suspect it. We use it to Floo to other places when we don't want to be caught. It's invaluable really." James blinked, shocked. "You know how to use Floo?"

"Yeah."

"Ok then, you first." James gave once last look to his Uncle (second-cousin) and cousin (third-cousin?), and then grabbed a handful of the powdery dust Nigel was offering to him. He stepped into the fireplace, glad he didn't have to duck, and threw the ash on the floor.

"Hogwarts!" He vaguely heard Nigel thanking Dudley as he span into the green flames, thinking of home.


	20. Of How Much Jayna Missed Food and Birthday Parties

Jayna was let out of St Mungos the day after her attempted escape, at around about tea time. She'd Flooed to school, because the healers had scolded the Aurors for apparating with her, and was bloody hungry.

She sat at the Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall, unable to get past the fact that it had been her fault she'd been tortured; she'd been too wrapped up in James to think ahead. _Well never again- I won't allow myself to get hung up on some boy when my life is in danger._ She thought confidently. _Though hopefully there won't be an 'again'._

She was unsurprised when she was half-dragged off her seat by an overjoyed Lydjah moments later. Sam, Lien, Molly, Scorpius and Albus joining in the celebration was rather confusing though. And then of course there was James.

"Your wrist alright now?"

"Fine yeah. Thanks." There was a pause. "Did you try out for Quidditch?" James' eyes narrowed.

"' _I'm afraid, Mr Potter, the new rule states that all applicants have to be at least third year due to a rising interest in Quidditch._ '" James imitated Professor Avisana rather scarily. "Stupid. It should be based on skill not age. Fred got in though."

"Well you'll both get on next year huh?" The mischievous duo grinned and high-fived.

"Definitely." They said together.

Jayna turned back to everyone else. "Thanks you guys for trying to find us. I was debriefed on my way in."

"Well we weren't." Lydjah said crossly. "Why were you in St Mungos?" Jayna shrugged.

"Broke a finger, cut my wrist, terrible rope burns and severe cramps. Lack of food. Cruciatus curse damage. Nothing unfixable." She tried to play it off but she could tell by everyone's expressions (excluding James' of course) that they didn't believe her. Lydjah especially was observing at her carefully, something flashing across her narrowed eyes that Jayna couldn't quite understand. "I'm fine honestly people. I would not recommend it but at least I got a chance to see the inside of St Mungos now. I think I want to be a healer."

They didn't take the subject change very well. "You were tortured?" Lydjah said through gritted teeth.

"Barely. It can't have been more than a minute- right Potter?" This was apparently the wrong moment to remind Lydjah that James had been there.

"You were there?! And you didn't do anything?!"

"Lydjah, leave it; what could he do?"

"Did he have his wand?"

"Lydjah-"

"Did he have his wand Jayna?" Lydjah snarled dangerously.

"Yes." She muttered quietly. Lydjah turned her scorching gaze on James.

"Lydjah what did you expect him to do? Fight them? A weak, starving second-year against two trained torturers? They would have killed him and then where would we be? I'm going to be fine."

"'Going' to be fine? I thought you said you were fine." Lydjah picked up quickly.

"I am." Even _Lien_ looked sceptical. It was rather hard to believe Jayna when her voice was still hoarse from screaming and the bags under her eyes could have concealed a house. "Well I have to take Dreamless sleep potions till Christmas so that I don't get nightmares because I could end up hurting myself during them and also strengthening solution to heal the nerve damage." She said in a rush. Lydjah looked ready to throttle someone. "I'm starving can I please get something to eat?"

Lydjah softened and slid onto the bench next to her, piling Jayna's plate high with her favourite food. One of the fourth years looked down in annoyance as Lydjah snagged the last piece of lamb.

"I'd like to see you come back from being kidnapped and not be a little hungry!" She yelled at him. Chuckling, Sam snagged a piece of bread from the too-full plate and ruffled Jayna's hair. Jayna swatted lazily at her but she was too busy savouring the food to care that much. She was certain she looked like death anyway- might as well have the hairstyle to boot.

Jayna suddenly shot up, but she hadn't moved out from under the table, so all that happened was her knees hit it with such violence that she got bruises the size of apples that didn't leave for three weeks.

"Jayna! You ok-" Lydjah was suddenly muffled as her friend launched herself round Lydjah's neck.

"Happy Birthday!" Jayna's pumpkin juice went flying, pouring all down the back of her shirt. "Shit! That's cold!" Lydjah laughed into her hair and pulled out her wand, Scourgifying it off her back. "Your present is in the dorm. We can go get it after tea." Sam sat on the other side of the table, James quickly following. Jayna was about to inquire as to why they were breaking the rules and sitting at their table but James seemed to read her before she said it.

"Promoting house unity Blackwood."

"Oh, of course."

"It's your birthday?" Sam's eyes gleamed.

"No way Andrews." She looked about to protest. "You are not throwing me one of your ridiculous parties." Sam pouted.

"No fair. I already missed James'. What are you going to do then?"

"We're gonna have a party in our dorm room- you can come if you think you're clever enough." Jayna answered. Lydjah grinned at the news she hadn't previously been aware of but was expecting all the same. Both Sam and James brightened at the possibility of actually seeing the inside of the Ravenclaw Common-Room. "It starts at midnight and none of us are going to help you if you can't answer the question. And sorry James but you can't get into our room."

James didn't look at all fazed. "We worked out how to get past the staircase charm yonks ago."

"Staircase charm?" Jayna asked, confused. James' face fell.

"You don't have a staircase charm?"

"We don't have a staircase." James looked crestfallen. "Sorry mate." Lydjah sent her a sidelong look. Since when had Jayna said mate?

"How do they stop boys getting into your room then?"

"And I should tell you why?"

"Because you might need rescuing again." He said in jest.

"I'm sorry, what?" Her eyes narrowed playfully but there was a hint of steel hidden behind them too. "You do remember that you were entirely useless until you got your glasses back." James spluttered but to be honest he couldn't think of a single thing he'd done besides keep her company to aid their escape. In fact, he'd been the one that had run them straight into the trap by the door. She smirked, triumphant, and turned back to Sam.

"So I can come then?"

"Sure. If you can get in."

"I'll be there." Without a single word passing between the two of them they stood up and walked to the Gryffindor table, just as Professor Jordan looked to be about to come and tell them off. Lydjah and Jayna both turned to each other with identical impressed expressions.

"I do believe, Jay-Jay, we have a party to plan."

 

The five Ravenclaws in their dormitory had come up with one singular rule that they all followed. They had tried to implement others (the 'bathroom queue' of January and the 'No being loud until after eight AM', for example, both of which had broken by their creators as well as everyone else) but so far only one had held up. They'd simply entitled it 'Birthday' and the rule stated; 'If it is someone's birthday, they are allowed to hold a party in the dorm room and kick out anyone they don't want there for one night only, as long as all mess is vanished by eight AM the following morning and at least three hours of warning are given'. The 'kicked out' individuals slept in the Common-Room on the really comfy sofa, or shrank their bed and levitated it out there, depending on how tired they were when they came in.

It was ten-to twelve now and there were three people in the Ravenclaw dormitory; Jayna, Lydjah and Lee. Lee had always had a friendly relationship with both girls, but she wasn't the type of person to have friends, as such. However, she had been invited to both their parties the year before, mainly because at sleepovers her frankness and don't-care-attitude was hardly out of place at all. Despite her blasé Jayna really did hope Sam could make it- sleepovers were more fun with more people. By Lydjah's sleepover last year they had already decided they didn't much like Riley and her nosy friend and had come up with the Birthday rule. They were surprised when the other three had agreed to it (well not Lee as much) but the reason why became apparent in early December when Paige's birthday had fallen and their 'party' had left most of Ravenclaw tower deaf. The Head Boy at the time happened to be in Ravenclaw and had given both of them detentions and they were banned from having parties with music playing at that decibel ever again.

Needless to say, they didn't heed his warning, and Riley's birthday at the end of January had been immediately followed by an unscheduled trip to Hogsmeade arranged by the Head Boy to buy ear plugs.

An irritated rap on the door pulled the Ravenclaws out of their nap and staggering to the door. Sam stood behind it, her blonde hair free-flowing down her back, tangled and knotted as she blew some out of her red face. "What happened to you?" Lydjah yawned.

"Your stupid house protection system that's what." She snarled, pushing her way into the room and sitting on the bed closest to her, incidentally Lee's. "Rowena had the worst idea putting that stupid eagle on the front of her door-"

"Well it works doesn't it?" Lee said with eyebrows raised.

"I'm here aren't I?" She countered.

"Well yes, but considering the amount of time it took you to get in here we could have planned a defence strategy should we need one." Jayna cut into their conversation.

"What was the riddle anyway?"

"'I'm the part of the bird that's not in the sky. I can swim in the ocean and yet remain dry. What am I?'" It was Jayna's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"And it took you how long?" Sam huffed and muttered something under her breath. "What?"

"Two hours, ok?" The Ravenclaws managed a second of composure before breaking into laughs. Jayna always laughed differently- sometimes she snorted and laughed in booming 'Ha's, sometimes she giggled and sometimes she merely chuckled lightly. Lydjah laughed at a much higher note than her usual voice and it was always in these huge peals of laughter that would stop as quickly as they began. And Lee laughed like she was surprised someone had made her do so- and not entirely happy about it either. "What's the answer then if you think you're so good?"

"A shadow." They all chorused. Sam glared.

"Wait- are those Sonic-Screwdriver earrings?"

She was pointing to Lydjah's bedside table where indeed a pair of blue sonic screwdrivers, miniaturised and linked up to thin wires rested on her table. "Yeah," Jayna answered for her, "I bought them. They actually work to a degree too- I put the unlocking charm on them so they should be able to unlock most doors when you press the button. You know, just in case she doesn't have her wand on her or something." Sam looked impressed.

"I haven't seen anything Doctor Who related since I was about seven. It's never really appealed to me." Jayna shrugged.

"Lyd-jah introduced TV to me while I was at hers this summer," She didn't mention the reason why she was there although it hung unsaid in the room, "And I quickly got addicted. I watched all the restart series over there; I'm not sure about Classic Who yet though. And Lydjah's favourite is, of course, Ten so I had to buy her the blue ones. There's this really good muggle items shop in Hogsmeade- it's like a whole other world."

"Yeah it is." Sam said with a grin. "Anyway," She said, looking disapprovingly around the room, "I thought you said this was a party."

"It is. You never heard of a sleepover Andrews?"

"Of course I have." She retorted. "I just don't think I've been to an all-girls one before." Lydjah turned to Jayna, excitement lighting up her face.

"Would you rather?" But Jayna blanched, her mind returning to the basement two days prior and shook her head vehemently. Lydjah looked hurt so Jayna quickly amended.

"It's already late- why don't we go straight in with Gay Chicken?" She said with an un-Jayna like giggle. Sam blinked.

"What on earth is Gay Chicken?" Jayna and Lydjah shared a look.

"You have to sit opposite a person of the same gender-" Lydjah started.

"And lean in until one of you flinches away." Jayna finished.

"What if neither of you flinch?"

"Then you end up snogging," She said bluntly, "getting more and more intense until one of you pulls away. It usually doesn't get that far though."

Sam grinned with determination in her eyes. "Who's going first?" Jayna gave a sideways look at Lydjah who burst out laughing.

"I can't play with Jayna," Lydjah explained, "She does this thing with her face… I don't know I just can't." This 'thing with her face' turned out to be the exact same facial expression Jayna was pulling at her right now. She seemed to be trying to lick her lips, but couldn't quite do it right.

"What is wrong with your tongue?" Jayna laughed.

"I have tongue-tie- I've just got this extra bit of skin that attaches the tip of my tongue to the bottom of my mouth so I can't stick it out. I'll probably get Madam Longbottom to fix it soon." She let out a smirk. "I've never had need to before. Now however…" She trailed off suggestively. Sam grinned back in surprise- she hadn't realised Ravenclaws even thought about that. It seemed like they held relationships through sheer force of will.

"So I can't play with Jayna- want to play Sam?" The four of them arranged themselves in a square; Lydjah, Sam, Jayna, Lee. Sam flinched as soon as their lips touched, scowling. Lydjah laughed. "You just can't deal with all this sexiness."

"Sure. That's it." Sam said jokingly. Then she turned to Jayna who only had to make The Face once and Sam was in hysterics. "Oh Merlin! I see what you mean!" The four of them laughed.

"Meh I'll go get some Butterbeer seeing as it's clear none of you can deal with my beautiful face." She flounced out of the dorm.

"Where is she going to get Butterbeer from?"

"The kitchens?" Lydjah answered, her eyebrows raised sceptically.

"And how is she going to manage to get down there without getting caught?"

"She's Jayna fucking Blackwood. What teacher do you know that won't swallow her complete and utter bullshit? Even Filch, that slimy bugger, loves her. And the ones that are scared of her, well, they're not going to risk telling her off for something innocent like 'getting a headache potion' or- what was the latest one? Oh yeah, 'chasing my cat'. Can you believe they actually let her have that? She doesn't even own a cat for crying out loud!" Lee explained. Lydjah shrugged; it was true. "And this bitch," Lee said affectionately, pointing at Lydjah, "her mum, you know, the freaking muggle one, is best friends with Professor Babbling, you know, Ancient Runes? Deputy Head? So those two can get away with pretty much anything." Sam frowned. James and her were the ones who could get away with anything. Seems like they were going to have to up their game. What about a Welcome Back prank...?

"Anyway- game? I believe it's between you two now." Sam grinned teasingly at Lee as they faced each other. It was a bit awkward, seeing as neither of them had ever even spoken to each other, but Sam had always admired the girl's 'I actually don't give a fuck' attitude. Most people's was just that; an attitude, but Lee honestly did not care. At all. And Lee had always enjoyed the Terrible Two's pranks, especially as they often disrupted boring lessons like History of Magic. How Jayna managed to actually enjoy that lesson was beyond everybody else.

The two leaned in and to Lydjah's surprise neither of them backed off. Sam daringly snaked an arm round Lee's shoulders, who countered with a soft stroke down Sam's arm.

The door shot open and Jayna came in, dragging a small trolley behind her, where four Butterbeers rested. It levitated a few feet off the ground, and, when she flipped it over, the Butterbeer bottles did not spill; the liquid inside somehow resisted gravity. Sam, as a Muggleborn, still found displays of magic interesting, not that she could see it right now seeing as she was very determined not to be the first to pull away this time. Jayna wordlessly popped open a bottle of Butterbeer and tossed it to Lydjah who caught it deftly in one hand. Jayna rolled her eyes; of course Lydjah was good at catching when Jayna couldn't catch something three inches away from her face even if it was stationary. She pulled the cork from her own bottle and was only mildly surprised when it tried to explode out onto her hand. She stuck her finger absently in the bubbles and tried to lick the froth off her hand.

"Ehem!" Lydjah said after about another minute. Sam and Lee sprung away from each other grinning.

"Draw?" Sam offered. Lee nodded.

"I think we should move onto another game. How about Truth or Dare?" Jayna suggested throwing bottles to Sam and Lee who both managed the catches with ease. Jayna scowled.

And so the night continued. And most of the next morning.


	21. Of Astronomy and Sam and Lien's Choices in Best Friends

Jayna walked slowly over to the bottom of the stairs of the Astronomy tower for her first lesson in that subject. She stared up at them, struck suddenly by the words she'd tried so hard to forget. She had listened to someone sign paperwork about her death. Listened to them joke around about how her entire family had died. Listened to them laugh at the idea of her torture and how no-one would care if she died. She'd been thinking about that a lot actually; whether she was more worried over the people trying to kill her or the fact that they were right. Oh, of course Lydjah would miss her but she was well-connected and seemed to have found a friend in Sam at least, so she wouldn't be distraught. Not that Jayna wanted her to be exactly, but… It would be nice. And her sister- well, Jayna knew Cara would miss her, despite how much her sister had tried to convince herself she wouldn't, but she also knew her death would only fuel Cara's search for revenge.

But two people in a world of millions? Two people who would miss her? It seemed she really needed to branch out her social circle.

Professor Sinistra had apologised profusely to the both of them yesterday at dinner and Jayna had, of course, forgiven her, although she privately believed that it took a very weak person to completely succumb to the Imperius curse, unless it had been cast intermittently. Professor Sinistra hadn't even twitched away from her instructions. What was more worrying was that the person would have needed to be quite close to her, which meant, as the Aurors had worried, the opposition had some way of getting into the castle.

As she stared up into the twisting stairs her breaths started to come in short gasps, she rubbed her wrists feverishly and hugged her new robes (replaced by the school's insurance) closer to her. A hand on her shoulder sent her spinning round, her wand poking directly into the offending person's jugular.

James gulped, his Adam's apple struggling to follow the motion. She moved her wand instantly but didn't apologise as she continued to glare at him.

"I know." He said quietly. Finally her gaze lessened as she dropped it to the ground but he knew her mouth was still twisted into a scowl. "You sure you're alright to come back to school?"

"I'm fine." She snarled.

"Blackwood, what did they say-" She cut him off, not wanting to hear the rest of his question.

"Does your dad know why they wanted him?" James accepted the subject change easily.

"No." He said, looking troubled. "Or at least not that he's told me. Their plan wouldn't've worked anyway- dad made a rule when he became Head of the Auror office because of the battle of the Department of Mysteries," He waited to see if she understood which battle she was referring to. The story he'd grown up on, told by various family members until he'd got all points of view except his dad's, who had only given a vague overview of it, as he did with all the encounters where he had lost someone; Jayna had read as a biography. It was strange to him, when people got so excited over Harry or Ron or Hermione being on their chocolate Frog Cards, or when Harry got flocked by witches and wizards who were just so grateful, when to James he was just a dad, sometimes a bit of a git to be honest. James loved him of course, not that he said it much, and he was very close with his dad, but it seemed to James that no matter what he did, he'd still be known as 'Harry Potter's son' before anything else. Not that he wanted to go through what his dad had; everyone else glorified it when really Harry had lost every father figure in his life, had been orphaned at a young age and his entire teenage life had been haunted by the threat of Voldemort, but he didn't like the expectations that had been set on him because of it. He was constantly under scrutiny and people were constantly appalled by his pranking nature, as though he was supposed to be an upstanding student all of the time, even though his dad actually found his pranks quite funny.

He looked closer at Jayna, realising that she was under scrutiny too, but for the opposite reasons. He felt a pang of pity for her; she was terrifying in her own right, but he wished she didn't have to be. He later concluded that this was the only reason the next words came tumbling out of his mouth. "On the plus side though," he began brightening, and Jayna looked at him in utter confusion that he had found a way to put a positive spin on their kidnapping and her torture, "All these girls are flocking to me wanting to know how I escaped the 'awful Death-Eaters'." Jayna blinked in utter disbelief. He winked at her and went sauntering back over to Sam who stood a few feet away and had heard the entire conversation.

She stared at him, the word 'dumbass' repeating itself in her head.

"What?" He asked, offended.

"See this is the reason most girls aren't friends with guys."

"What?"

"Never mind James." Sam had never really had a problem with being friends with just James before, maybe because she had no interest in talking about girly-things which all other girls who were friends with guys seemed to do. She didn't want to talk about crushes, or test scores, or gossip, or what she was doing at the weekend. She wanted to talk about Quidditch, pranks and Quidditch. Which was why she didn't much care over Jayna's crestfallen face, other than that James really was an idiot and she was so glad she didn't have to deal with it. "Hey, we should pull a 'Welcome back James' prank." He frowned.

"What about Jayna?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Oh so now you're being considerate towards her." She muttered.

"Sorry what?"

"Nothing James. We can include Jayna too if you want."

"Nah I don't want to get her into trouble."

"Since when have we ever got caught?"

"True. Let's put some Ravenclaw colours in there somewhere then."

"Oh how nice of you." James didn't seem to catch the sarcasm and beamed.

Jayna, for her part, was not completely surprised at James' disinterest, but was rather hurt at his complete and utter 'rub-it-in-her-face' attitude. She didn't even know whether she liked him half the time, let alone if she had a crush on him, but really he didn't need to point out so obviously that she was hardly someone who attracted attention from the opposite gender. She liked to think it was because of her surname, but really she knew people who wouldn't have been put off by that. She just wasn't worth the effort of trying to fight her demons. Not that she thought she needed a man to do that for her, or that she even wanted one, but the effort might have been appreciated. And she believed herself to be worth more than a Dark name and a snobbish stereotypical Ravenclaw outer-shell. She just wished she knew how to show it more, without some prat basically telling her there was no point.

Lydjah clapped her on the shoulder but Jayna had memorised the weight of her footsteps and was expecting it.

"He doesn't deserve you, the prat; I mean you saved his life."

"I'm pretty sure that was the Aurors actually."

"He's just a boy Jay-Jay." Jayna grinned, shaking off her self-pitying mood.

"Since when have any of the boys I've ever liked been 'just a boy'?"

"So you admit you like him then?" Jayna glared.

"Bloody Hell Lydjah-" Lydjah's eyes widened.

"So you DO know what that means?!"

"Oh for Merlin's sake-" Lydjah ignored her and started to do a small jig-like dance, singing 'she does know what it means' happily. Jayna stood and watched her, laughing loudly at her classmates reactions, insanely glad that it was Lydjah who was her best friend and no-one else.

 

Scorpius reached for a scotch-pancake and was about to sink his teeth into it when it was smacked out of his hand by Albus. He was about to ask him what on earth had possessed him to send his pancake spiralling down the table, but forgot his question when he looked into the enraged eyes of Cara Blackwood, sitting across from him. She was staring into a spoon, looking absolutely livid as she ran her hand through her bright red hair. He glanced around the table and saw most of the Slytherins had matching red hair, with the occasional gold cropping up here and there. He watched as a group of five of them sneaked some food from the Ravenclaw table, only for their hair to turn a brilliant shade of blue or bronze. He turned back to Albus who looked torn between being distraught and laughing.

"James." He said in response to Scorpius' look. Sure enough, all the puddings on the Slytherin table were slowly arranging themselves to spell out 'Welcome back James- we've missed you so much!'. Scorpius snorted. James himself was stood up on one of the Gryffindor bench tables.

He pretended to blush fanning his cheeks. "Oh thank you!" He squealed in a seriously bad impression of a girl's voice according to Sam's eye-roll from where she was sat, dodging his wobbly attempt to balance using her head. "I think it's so nice of you to display all this house unity!" Suddenly his expression turned serious, "But I'm afraid that while it's touching, you're causing quite a disturbance so could you please desist." Several of the Slytherins stood up as if to attack him but Professor Vector had called for attention before they could.

She seemed to be laughing, as if she couldn't quite help herself, much to the disapproval of Professor Babbling, but she waved her wand nonetheless and the Slytherins' hair all turned back to normal. With another flick, a huge banner had been erected over the back of the Great Hall that read 'Welcome back James & Jayna'. James bowed from where he was sat and with a flourish sat back down on the bench.

Lunch continued without any more interruptions, except Lydjah and Jayna leaving quickly in the direction of the Hospital Wing, Jayna's usual long-strides hindered by the amount of weight she was transferring to Lydjah's helpful arm.

Molly and Lien had been quite enjoying the display and clapped along with the rest of the school as James took his seat.

Lien's first month as Hufflepuff had completely convinced her of the amazingness of being part of the magical community. She'd gained a best friend, a second home and the most gorgeous fluffy blanket you could ever wish for thanks to her Head of House who apparently very good at charming things to knit for him. All the Hufflepuffs had them and although Isabella in particular pretended that she didn't care for such a 'babyish' gift, that didn't stop her from using it as the summer gave way to a cold but clear autumn.

She got on well with the other girls in her dorm; Abigail, who was funny, especially with all her amazing impersonations that were further improved by her ability to turn into the person she was impersonating, Rosie, who for a reason the rest of them could not yet phantom was best friends with Abigail, despite her rather bland personality and Daisy, who no longer had Scrofunglus and turned out to be very out-spoken in sticking up for everyone she deemed worthy in class, even if it was a Ravenclaw, which often resulted in detention. Even Isabella, who'd bonded with her over a love for music, had become her friend. Isabella was very impressed when she'd stumbled in on Lien's guitar playing, asking if Lien could possibly teach her when she had the time, which is how Isabella and Lien ended up writing a song together after Lien learnt of her prowess on piano.

This then escalated even further because the only room they could find with a piano was the music classroom for the few who took the study of music or muggle music once they got to sixth year. This was frequented by the teacher of music at the school; Professor Casales, as she held all her lessons either there or in the Great Hall, and the teacher could not believe her eyes when she saw it was two eleven year olds. The two of them were quickly recruited into both the orchestra and the Frog choir despite their protests and they'd been asked to perform their song at the Halloween Feast. Lien had kept the information under wraps, not really wanting to know any of the group's feelings on it.

'The group'… She wasn't entirely sure what to call the eight of them.

James, she'd decided, was funny, even if he was an older boy she didn't know very well. She had the feeling that he'd be perfectly nice when she got to know him, and she had no doubt she would be getting to know him, because if there's one thing you can't go through without making future plans to meet up, it was helping to find your best friend's lost cousin and the older girl you met on the train, and seeing as he never went anywhere without Sam…

Sam herself Lien admired. Sam was witty, clever, funny and exceedingly brave. She didn't want to be her exactly, because Lien loved partaking in girly things as well as more rolling-in-the-mud based activities, and she privately thought that Sam's recklessness would throw her off a cliff if no-one stopped her, but her constant positivity was hard to ignore.

As for Lydjah… Well she hadn't quite decided her opinion on the Ravenclaw yet. It was clear she had a lot of things going on beneath the surface, her newly revealed Seer powers being only one of them, and she was impossibly wacky but it was the kind of crazy Lien needed to kick-start her life; like believing in magic crazy or performing in front of her entire school crazy... She really needed to stop thinking about that.

She quickly moved her mind onto her most unsure out of the group. Jayna was a bitch to her really. And Molly. And most of the school. But she seemed to be less bitchy the more you got to know her, and more sad. There was something broken in the swotty personality she tried to use but Lien wasn't sure if it was worth all the snappish remarks to find out what.

Scorpius was easier. The rumours surrounding him were all true; he was the son of Death Eaters and possibly inbreeding. He was also gorgeous and aware of it, but not in the cocky way James was, more the casual confidence he exuded as he went through life. He was facing difficulties in changing his mind-set but he was at least trying to change. He was good to talk to and Lien wished she had more lessons with the Slytherins so she'd get an opportunity.

Of course that wasn't the only reason she wished for more time with the Slytherins; Albus was another reason all by himself. He was good-looking, yes, but so were lots of people. It was more the gentle way he spoke, but his voice didn't speak of weakness; it spoke of kindness. He was dependable for a homework buddy (Molly, Lien, Albus, Scorpius, Rose and Roxanne had quickly made a habit of meeting in the library, although Roxanne was a rather infrequent member on account of often serving detention) and he made her laugh. He also played piano and the flute which just about did it for her.

Before she could finish that train of thought and feel guilty for it (because of course Brendan was still in Chester wondering why she'd suddenly decided to go to boarding school and why she no longer had access to the internet) she turned her mind to Molly. She'd had best friends in primary school, the kind that come and go depending on the day, but she could already tell with Molly that the possibilities of that happening were minimal. They were just so in synch, alike, but very different too. They always had something to talk about, mainly because of their vastly different childhoods, and they never got bored when they were with each other, even if all they were doing was reading.

The eight of them could be split so many ways; Houses (two of each), best friends (which was incidentally the same), blood status (five Purebloods, two Muggleborns and one Half-Blood), or just plain old gender split (five girls, three boys) but if there was one thing Lien was sure of, it was that the eight of them, whether they knew it or not, were going to make one Hell of a team.


	22. Of Another Trip to the Hospital Wing (There's Going to Be a Lot of Them) and Subtext

Jayna woke up, surrounded by white light, sheets and curtains. She flailed for a moment, wondering where she was and how she had managed to let herself get kidnapped twice in one week before recognising it as the Hospital Wing and relaxing back into the clean sheets. She looked to her right and was not surprised to see Lydjah curled up against her side but with her arms and legs gripping Jayna so tightly she could barely move. Lydjah's breathing was even as Jayna stroked her long hair away from her face with a smile. Whoever Lydjah ended up with, Jayna was not going to be jealous of their bed space.

Madam Longbottom took that moment to walk from her office. The stress instantly left her face as she looked at the sleepy Ravenclaws. "Honestly Miss Blackwood, I would have expected better from a Ravenclaw. You only have to take the potion once before you go to bed." Jayna managed a weak grin.

"Sorry I had my first Astronomy lesson last night and just completely forgot." Madam Longbottom rolled her eyes, exasperated, but her smile held.

"Please don't make it so you have to come here again. I didn't like the look of you last night." Jayna frowned as she wormed her arm under Lydjah's head so her friend's chin wouldn't keep digging into her shoulder.

"Why am I getting these after-effects? It's never mentioned the long-term effects in any book on the Unforgivable Curses I've ever read."

"Clearly you haven't read deep enough." The matron said smartly. "But the only reason I can find behind it is either because you were hit with two at the same time or because it's been repeatedly performed on you."

"Repeatedly performed? I don't think so- I'd remember that pain- I'm sure of it." She didn't miss the flash that went through Madam Longbottom's eyes. "What is it?" The matron turned away as she answered her question, pulling a few potions down from her shelf.

"Professor Vector informed me of your reaction to 'Obliviate'. How the more you tried to remember the more you forgot? Well that reaction is definitely a symptom of repeated use."

"So you think someone used to casually torture me and then wipe my memory for what? Their own amusement? My family wouldn't have let someone repeatedly kidnap me." There was an unmistakeable twist of the nurse's mouth. Jayna stared for a second and then let out a bitter laugh. "You think- You think _my family_ did this to me?!"

"I think nothing of the sort-"

"Don't lie to me _Madam Longbottom_. You might be quite happy to believe that all my family thought about was plotting revenge and how to extract the most amount of pain from someone but I loved them. They are the only family I've got, the only one I'll ever have. Don't you dare insinuate that they thought any less of me." Her voice did not betray any emotion except ruthlessness. The nurse wondered how the girl could look so peaceful when she slept and yet hold such anger when she was awake.

"I'm sorry Miss Blackwood. I did not mean to imply anything. If you are well enough you are quite welcome to take your potions and leave for breakfast." She disappeared again into her office, her eyes flashing with hurt. Jayna sighed, regretting it already but also knowing she wasn't a good enough person to go and apologise.

"Lydjah? Lydjah? Lydjah! LYDJAH!" When her friend only murmured contentedly Jayna sent a quick prayer of safety up to Merlin and then, with all her might, shoved the sleeping Ravenclaw onto the floor. The reaction was immediate, deafening and terrifying. Lydjah's eyes snapped open, found Jayna's and narrowed to slits. Jayna smiled hopefully.

"Good morning?"

"JAYNA IVONNE FUCKING BLACKWOOD I AM GOING TO SKIN YOU, FEED YOU TO THE OOD AND THEN SIT ON A THRONE MADE OF YOUR BONES!" She screamed. Jayna blinked.

"You done?"

"NO! I AM GOING TO TAKE ALL YOUR MONEY FROM YOUR HUGE VAULT AND USE IT TO BUY LAP-DANCERS THAT ARE GOING TO AGREE WITH HOW HORRIDIOUS YOU ARE AND THEN SELL THE REST OF YOUR ROTTING FLESH TO JABBA THE FUCKING HUTT!"

"Who's Jabba the Hutt?" Lydjah's anger seemed to melt away into sorrow.

"Oh Jayna. You lived a Star-Wars deprived childhood didn't you?"

"I suppose…"

"We'll watch it in the summer. Though if you'd just come for Christmas-"

"Not going to happen Lydjah. I'm already forcing your parents to look after another child- Merlin knows I'm not going to impose on them any longer than I have to." Lydjah rolled her eyes.

"They love having you there though!"

"And I love being there but I'm not going. Someone's got to stay and look after Scorpius anyway."

"Scorpius isn't going home for Christmas?"

"No. I heard him mentioning it earlier. Albus offered for him to come home with him but he declined."

"Idiot. Why would you decline an invitation to the Weasley family Christmas?"

"Because it's polite!"

"You Purebloods and your manners." Lydjah said shaking her head. Jayna laughed as Lydjah sat down on the edge of the bed just as Jayna swung her feet round to get out. She padded over to the potions and drunk them all quickly, making a comical face after each one. Lydjah didn't, however, miss the slight shake in her hands as she took each bottle. "Jayna what else happened?"

Jayna froze. "What do you mean?"

"When you were kidnapped. What else happened?"

"Nothing." Lydjah sent her a look. "Nothing, just… They talked a bit."

"About what?"

"About how they'd wait until the sun went down so any wandering people would think my screams were just noises of the night. How delicious my terror had been on the night my parents died. They laughed then and said they couldn't believe some idiotic Muggle had done their job for them. How, if I died, no-one would even care. I agree. I'd just be another casualty that people only pretended to be upset over- secretly they would be glad that my name was one step closer to being eradicated-"

"Jayna shut your damn mouth before it runs away with you." Jayna blinked and was very surprised to see tears twinkling in her friend's eyes. She didn't let them fall- Lydjah never did- but they were there. "Do not insult me. I would care if you died. Doesn't that count for something? Maybe some people would be glad. Maybe I'd be there every time they bad-mouthed you to kick their asses and inform them how wrong they were. They shouldn't have said that but no way do you get to agree. Get out of your self-pity; it doesn't suit you. You're terrified- I can see your hands don't deny it- and you have every right. You were tortured for no reason. But you can't let them get into your head and give you panic attacks. I saw you outside Astronomy. Be scared but don't let it govern your life. That's how people like your kidnappers are made."

"And people like my family according to Madam Longbottom."

"What?" Jayna relayed the events. It left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Jay…"

"We should get to class, yeah?"

"Jayna." Lydjah waited until Jayna had turned to face her again. "Do you think it's possible?" Jayna looked as if she was about to start ranting again and then she sighed, suddenly looking as if she hadn't slept in days.

"Possible? Lydjah I think it's probable."


	23. Of False (But Well Intended) Accusation and Flying Monstrosities

Astronomy, Jayna decided, was not quite as bad as Herbology (what in Merlin's name was that Mandrake's problem?), but was certainly far below her favourite lesson; Defence Against the Dark Arts. There was always time to chat in Astronomy at least, although there was also always the possibility that, seeing as it was only their fourth lesson, Professor Sinistra was just trying to warm them up to the subject. The rest of the lesson consisted of staring out into space. The problem with this was that Jayna had always been obsessed with space- not the statistics and figures for once, mind; it was more the creativity it inspired; just the fact that looking up to the stars was literally staring into the past had always fascinated her, and she disliked having to chart it all like it was something that could be charted. It was ever expanding, unknown galaxies rising and falling while all she could do was hope that somewhere there was something looking back.

This was another problem with the subject; if she stared for too long she started 'waxing poetry' as Sam had so kindly put it when they were assigned to be partners, which usually just ended in embarrassment on her part. Luckily she'd gotten a knack for writing down her thoughts without anyone being able to see her (by writing it almost inside her sleeve), though this didn't help when she started rambling aloud without realising. And Professor Sinistra had only confirmed her dislike. It wasn't that the professor had an (however unknowingly) hand in her kidnapping, though that certainly didn't help her case, but that she was prone to talking much too quickly about things that really weren't that important, rather like Jayna herself, not that she'd ever admit it.

Astronomy, Lydjah decided, was the most pointless subject to ever be taught. They were literally charting maps that thousands of students had already charted before they were even born for absolutely no reason. No-one used them, no-one spoke of them after they had been handed in- really Astronomy was just a waste of parchment, and she knew James at least agreed with her. Oh Jayna could wax on about how 'beautiful the pearl of a full moon was but how devastating its connotations were' or something but really it was the same plain old moon every month. And then, joy of joys, they have 'describing the planet's environment' to look forward to. And if that wasn't enough; last lesson Professor Sinistra had informed them, in a single spectacular moment when she wasn't rambling, that they'd be doing the same thing for the next FOUR YEARS. That was why she didn't mind missing the lesson, although she would rather have gone to Astronomy than what she was currently doing in the bathroom; regurgitated vegetables had never looked so unappetizing.

Astronomy, James decided, was quite fun. Parchment aeroplanes never flew as far anywhere else than from the top of the Astronomy tower, especially if they caught the wind. Sure, he might have just thrown away his only hope of passing the mini-test she was setting them next week, but Merlin it was so worth it. Sam was stuck with Jayna, who, while he now regarded her in a friendly sort of way, was still not someone you wanted to be partnered with if you didn't feel like doing any work. He, however, had been paired up with Ned who was quite happy to make parchment aeroplanes with him. They occasionally jotted made up things on their star charts when Professor Sinistra came round to check on them but James was mostly banking on his new friendship with a particularly nerdy Ravenclaw to get him through the rest of Astronomy. Even if she didn't let him copy, he knew she wouldn't be able to resist helping him.

Astronomy, Sam decided, was going to result in either Jayna's untimely demise as Sam pushed her off the top of the tower for saying how 'starlight shimmered through their blackened hearts' or with Sam actually admitting that some of the stuff Jayna wrote wasn't half -bad and maybe Sam could help her get in touch with a publisher because her mum was one. Merlin, Sam was going to lose all aspects of her reputation if she carried on like this.

"The full moon will occur tomorrow, please make a note of it. Time for the register."

"That was rather quick." Jayna muttered in an undertone. Sam stifled her laugh.

"Miss Andrews?"

"Yes Professor."

"Miss Blackwood?"

"Yes Professor."

"Miss Curtis?" Sally, Olivia, Josie, Isla, James, Violet, Riley, Ned and Paige all answered affirmative when their names were read out.

"Miss Dawson?"

"She's ill Professor." Jayna said calmly.

"Thank you. Miss Wright?" James and Sam shared a look. James carefully snuck over to her taking a careful glance to check Jayna wasn't listening in. She wasn't; too busy scribbling down yet another line for a book.

"Why is Lydjah always ill?" Sam shrugged, staring out of the window.

"Maybe she just hates Astronomy." James nodded, joining in her staring.

"Yeah she did mention that she thought it was pointless-" He cut himself off as he looked closer at the sky. "Sam, did Professor Sinistra say the next full moon was tomorrow?"

"Yeah, why?"

"And wasn't Lydjah ill on the day Jayna and me were kidnapped?"

"I think so. Seriously why?"

"It had just been the full moon then." Understanding dawned in Sam's widened eyes.

"You don't think-"

"I don't know, maybe-"

"She's a werewolf?!"

"Oh my Merlin! That makes so much sense- she, well no offence to her and she's good at covering it and all, but she's usually quite pale and tired-looking."

"Exactly! Merlin's pants!" They grinned at each other.

"Time to confront the friend?" They both gave a side-long look at Jayna.

"Time to confront the friend." Sam confirmed.

 

Jayna glared as the owls came screeching into the Great Hall. She bit into her toast angrily. It wasn't that she disliked the owls, in fact she had one of her own, but did they really have to be so bloody loud? Especially when she was trying to write. James' owl; Merlin, glared at her as it fluttered down to where James and Sam were sitting. Just because she'd accidentally sat on it that time she tripped over in the Owlery did not warrant this kind of abuse. Rowena, her owl, swooped down with a letter and a copy of the daily prophet. She preened as Jayna stroked her feathers and placed a few knuts into the pouch onto her ankle. She fed her a couple of bits of bacon.

"You go rest up in the Owlery yeah? I'll come and see you later." Rowena blinked slowly and then rose, narrowly avoiding collision with another bird that seemed to be desperately trying to reach Jayna. It crashed face first into the ginormous bowl of porridge in front of her. Jayna banged her head once on the table in defeat and then carefully scooped the squawking bird out. Paige and Riley giggled at what Jayna liked to call 'The flying monstrosity' and what Lydjah had kindly named 'Rory' after the boy who'd followed her around for most of the year before.

Rory had originally been an owl, or so the pet shop owner tried to claim, but he'd flown into a cleaning spell directed at his cage and the result was… Well Jayna didn't even know what Rory was. Purely aesthetically, Rory the brown owl was now Rory the brown pigeon. He crapped on everything he saw, squawked at anything and couldn't fly in a straight line to save his life. However, he could fly the distance owls were supposed to fly and he understood commands, even if they needed to be reiterated occasionally. He had been ridiculously cheap, Lydjah's dad; Alen, had been ridiculously drunk; the idea had seemed like a good one in his mind. Lydjah had taken to him, mainly because he was so completely out of place, and because human stalker Rory was terrified of birds, which meant that as soon as Lydjah had sent him a letter informing him of her latest gift the poor boy had kept a safe distance away from her.

Jayna took the letter off his leg and a quick scourgify on both the bird and the letter quickly sorted things out. She put the letter in her bag to give to Lydjah later (the other Ravenclaw was still detained in their dorm room) along with her newspaper (she only liked reading it in private) and gestured for the flying monstrosity to leave. He did, but only after he'd relieved himself on Jayna's toast and pushed his face as far as it would go into the peanut butter jar as per usual. She pushed her plate away in disgust and opened her own letter, smiling as she saw the handwriting on the front.

_Dear Jayna,  
How's school? Lydjah's been as vague as always, talking herself in circles. Has that boy finally given up on her? Poor thing. Do you have a favourite lesson? Lydjah says she likes all of her lessons which is strange because she hated Maths in Primary School. Do you not get summary reports there? I can't seem to recall receiving Lydjah's at the end of last year._

_I can't imagine going to boarding school. Are the dorms nice? Lydjah's mentioned Lee a few times; she's an exchange student from Africa? Apparently she's quite outlandish but funny. Unusual to move so far but then I suppose Hogwarts is the best in the business. I think it strange that it doesn't have a webpage or phone signal but Alen went there and look how well he turned out! Anyway, there are two other girls in your dorm right? Are they nice? Do you have to share a bathroom? That would be horrible! Are you sure you can't come for Christmas? We'd love to have you!_

_Anyway, I've got to dash- the co-op is only open for so long! I hope you're settling into the new school year well and if you could persuade Lydjah to reply to her mother once in a while I would appreciate it. I've enclosed some of those biscuits you love- I can't believe you'd never had chocolate digestives before this summer! -What your parents were-_

_With love,  
Sophia_

Jayna folded the letter back into her pocket, deciding to ask Lydjah exactly what a webpage was so she could reply without revealing anything too suspicious. For the first time a mention of her parents hadn't sent a pang through her chest, merely annoyance that people still insisted on walking on eggshells around her, though she knew Sophia was only trying to be considerate. She reached for her quill again and went back to her parchment.

A few seconds later, she felt a tap on both shoulders. She held up her hand for a second, forcing the last few words of that perfect sentence through the quill and onto the page.

"Yep?" She asked spinning around. James and Sam were staring at her, their expressions triumphant.

"We know." They chorused. She blinked.

"You know what?"

"We know about Lydjah." Jayna frowned and then her expression cleared and she paled slightly.

"Oh."

"And we just want to say that it's-" Sam started.

"Completely fine with us and all." James finished.

"Really? That's actually nice of you. Discrimination against something that isn't even a problem is ridiculous." Jayna said passionately.

"So true. I mean my uncle and Teddy are half it anyway." James said. Jayna frowned.

"How can you be half that?"

"I thought you said you read the biographies." Sam smirked. Jayna's confusion grew even deeper.

"I have but it doesn't mention that."

"Really? I thought it would have. What with them having to register and all." Jayna was no longer sure they were talking about the same thing. But what else could they know about Lydjah?

"Register?"

"Oh Merlin. Is Lydjah not registered?" That was Sam again.

"Since when do you have to be registered?"

"Since… Ever? To be fair, werewolves are quite dangerous if they haven't been given somewhere to stay safe-" James mulled.

"What?"

"What, 'what'?"

"What are you talking about?"

"What are _you_ talking about?" James demanded.

"We were talking about how she's a werewolf!" Sam interrupted. Jayna let out a choked laugh.

"What? She's not a filthy creature!" Jayna realised her mistake a second later and froze, looking up at James and Sam's shocked faces. "I'm sorry that was inexcusable. I don't think werewolves are filthy. Or even creatures seeing as they're in the Being division now. It's just force of habit." She said quickly but the words sounded hollow even to her own ears. James raised his eyebrows, a sneer curling the corner of his lips.

"You expect us to believe you've managed to completely change your mind-set after ten weeks?"

"Ten weeks during which my entire family died at the hands of people they called worthless?" Sam seemed to let it go at that point but James' eyes only narrowed further.

"Prove it. Look me in the face and say you'd be completely comfortable shaking a werewolf's hand." Jayna squirmed and then took a deep breath.

"I can't." James' face lost a bit of its anger in his surprise. "But I do know, logically, that I shouldn't have a problem. I know that. But you're right. I haven't been able to completely change my mind-set after only ten weeks. But these last ten weeks did prove all of my family's theories incorrect- not that they were very solid anyway. So, no, I can't tell you that. But I hope you believe I am trying, so hard to change the way I think. It's just going to take a while to put into practice." James still didn't seem convinced.

"Have you managed to change anything yet?" She nodded slowly and glanced at Sam.

"I've taken Blood-Traitor completely out of my vocabulary. And… I don't think Mudblood anymore when I see Sam." Sam flinched.

"What about everyone else who has blood like mine?" Jayna shook her head infinitesimally.

"I'm working on it. I've almost sorted Lien in my head. It's only when she does something annoying now." Sam let out a weak chuckle. James still seemed angry. Sam punched him lightly in the shoulder and he turned his smouldering gaze to her.

"James, you can't fault her for trying." James glared for a second longer but realised that there was no point to argue from and sighed, deciding to come back to it later.

"Fine. But either way we know Lydjah's a werewolf."

"No she's not!"

"Right… Because most people are this ill all the time." Jayna snorted.

"No of course not. Lydjah just has a crappy immune system." Sam gave Jayna a long measured look.

"Do you not know?"

"Not know what?!" Jayna cried, verging on hysteria.

"That she's a werewolf!"

"Oh my Merlin! She's not a werewolf!" She paused for breath. "I'll prove it. Come to Ravenclaw tower tonight and I shall show you Lydjah's completely normal; just ill!"

"Fine we will. See you at about eleven."

"Why do you have to come after curfew?"

"To check you're not sneaking her out!"

"Fine! Now if you'll excuse me I have class!" She stood up, taller than Sam by a good couple of inches, though shorter than James by one and marched off, swinging her bag over her shoulder as she left, careful to take her writing with her.

The two Gryffindors stared after her for a second and then Sam looked closer at her vacated area.

"What the hell happened to that porridge?"

 

Jayna went to visit Lydjah during lunch after a rather dull morning of Transfiguration, Charms and then History of Magic, only to find her friend playing a game of chess in the Common-Room with Patrick. Lydjah looked up to see her friend and grinned leaping off the sofa.

"You look better." Jayna remarked with a laugh as she was wrapped into an excited hug.

"Guess what, guess what, guess what!"

"Erm… What?"

"Arnold asked me out!" There was a loud snap from behind them. They both glanced over to see (human) Rory sat in an armchair, ink splattering all over him as he snapped his quill in half. Jayna held in a laugh, barely, and ignored him, turning back to Lydjah.

"Arnold Macmillan? The really cute Hufflepuff?"

"Yes!"

"Merlin! How?"

"Well he asked Charlotte, you know the little firstie? Yeah, he asked her to come and bring me outside about an hour ago and I was feeling a bit better so I agreed and then when I got outside he asked me out!"

"By asked you out you mean…" She trailed off with eyebrows raised.

"Snogged me senseless yes. So I'm meeting up with him later."

"How is it that you manage to get cute boys to ask you out while you look like death and I can't get them to come near me on my best day?" Jayna asked with a laugh. Lydjah grinned.

"Well you're just lacking all this sexiness of course."

"Oh, of course." The two girls laughed. "So are you coming to afternoon classes?"

"Heh, no. I'm going to milk this ill thing for as long as possible. Literally the only good thing about puking your guts up is missing class for it." Jayna lifted an eyebrow. "Just because you actually enjoy class doesn't mean the rest of us are that crazy." Patrick slung an arm round Jayna's shoulders, his bright green and purple top hat appearing to currently be doing the Caspar slide on top of his pink-tipped hair.

"Don't worry Jay, I love taking Arithmancy exams." Jayna laughed poking Patrick teasingly in the stomach.

"See Lydjah? You're the crazy one around here. Unfortunately I've got Transfiguration homework to complete-"

"And despite it not being due for another three weeks most probably you're going to do it now." Jayna flashed her a grin.

"You know me so well. Oh this is for you by the way." She handed Lydjah her letter.

"Why is it soggy?"

"Your bird saw how pathetic its existence was and tried to drown itself in the porridge. Unfortunately, I saw fit to rescue your letter and therefore the bird. Now if you'll excuse me." She said with another smile and then departed to the second-year dormitory.

"She's a hell of a lot happier this year." Patrick remarked. "Despite what she's lost." Lydjah nodded.

"I know. I just wish she did."

 

Lee opened the door and looked at Sam with some surprise. They hadn't seen in each other in their respective towers since the sleepover, not that Lee really minded seeing as she no inclination to speak to James and it was quite hard to speak to one without the other, especially in the Gryffindor tower, but she had found herself paying a little more attention to their pranks.

"You can't come inside." Lee said to James. He rolled his eyes but nodded.

"Yes, yes I know. Now-"

"How long did it take you to do the riddle this time Sam?" Sam felt her face heat up and she coughed into her palm. "Sorry, what?"

"Two hours ok?" Lee chortled.

"What was it this time?"

"'What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?'" James chanted dutifully. "Where does it come up with this stuff?"

"It took you two hours to work out it was a river?" The two Gryffindors blinked at her.

"How did you work that out so quickly?"

"Well it's obvious isn't it? The riddles are always easy at this time of year. Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"I came to see Jayna, or more specifically Lydjah." Lee raised her eyebrows.

"Lydjah's not here. I'll get Jayna hang on." She swung the door shut in Sam's face. Before she had time to do much more than blink it was flung open again, this time by Jayna who was wearing cow pyjamas and had a toothbrush stuck in the side of her mouth. When she saw James and Sam she paled and smacked a hand to her forehead. James and Sam grinned and high-fived.

"Shit."

"We knew it!"

"Nice pyjamas by the way Blackwood." Jayna rolled her eyes.

"Shut up. I can explain-"

"What are you guys doing here?" James and Sam spun around to see a positively beaming Lydjah who no longer looked the slightest bit ill.

"Where have you been?" James asked suspiciously. Lydjah gave him a quizzical look and answered uncertainly.

"Not that it's any of your business but I've been on a date with Arnold. Why are you here?" Jayna looked at them expectantly, tapping her foot.

"Yes, why are you here?" James narrowed his eyes, mostly in jest.

"We're on to you. Better watch your back Ravenclaws." The two of them turned and stalked out of the Common-Room again. Lydjah stepped into the dorm and Jayna let the door swing shut behind her.

"What was that about?" Jayna just shook her head.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that your bird crapped all over my breakfast…"


	24. Of Interruptions at the Halloween Feast and Hufflepuffs' Affinity for Music

Scorpius thought that Lien definitely had a gift. However, he nodded along without really listening to Albus' five minute long rant of praise, still revelling over the friendly wave Rose had sent him from the Gryffindor table when she'd sat down. Of course, that had just made a handful of red-heads glare at him and then smile or at least nod in acknowledgement to Albus, to which Al's response had been 'This is going to make an interesting Christmas' and to ask Scorpius if he was sure he wouldn't like to come.

"Scorp are you alright?" Scorpius blinked. "You haven't been listening." Scorpius offered him a hopeful half-grin.

"I'm sorry Al and Lien's awesome and all but half the words you're using to describe her are not in my vocabulary. I might play an instrument but you're comparing her to composers I've never heard of."

Albus' eyes widened in shock. "You've never heard of Mozart? Or Chopin?"

"No?"

"Merlin what did you learn for eleven years?"

"French mostly." Al laughed.

 

Lydjah and Jayna on the Ravenclaw nodded their heads to the music but didn't comment, too busy savouring the feast before them. If Jayna could speak without covering her friend in half-chewed food she would've complained that Lien hadn't told them that she was performing. If Jayna had said this Lydjah would've asked her why she expected Lien to have told them, and Jayna would've been stumped.

James and Sam had asked Lien exactly where she was performing in the layout of the Great Hall. Lien hadn't asked how they'd found out; since the discovery of the invisibility cloak she'd been wary of everything around the school, and she hadn't asked why they wanted to know; convinced that the knowledge would only put off her playing (she would've been right). Instead Lien had just concentrated on learning her medley of muggle and magical songs that Isabella and herself had come up with. They'd both agreed, with Professor Casales as well, that this would be a one-time thing (although they'd be quite happy to practice their music together and maybe call on the other's talents while recording a song every so often).

Lien closed her eyes against the curious faces for just long enough to pretend that it was still just a practice and then launched into the first line of the last song.

The two opposite twins counted down slowly from twenty in their heads, sharing a smirk.

Jayna didn't even flinch when she was showered with red and gold sweets as well as the innards of several pumpkins. Nor was she surprised when she glanced up and saw the bats had arranged themselves to spell out 'Boo'. Her cutlery standing up and beginning to waltz to the Hufflepuffs' song only made her lift an eyebrow and James and Sam's miraculous safety from all the pumpkin gunk was to be expected. Her robes transfiguring themselves into a Dementor costume with complete face-paint did; however, make her raise her glass towards the grinning Gryffindors, despite the fact that she could no longer breathe, who were now disguised as a Headless Horseman (Sam) and Godric Gryffindor (James) both with fake swords strapped round their waists.

The two Gryffindors acknowledged her toast with a little sitting-down bow. Lydjah, who was so enraptured with her twirling fork that she hadn't noticed her green skin, red hair, pointy hat and enlarged nose (Wicked Witch of the West), did however, notice the exchange and gave a thumbs-up to the two of them.

Albus, who now resembled a female ghost from the 17th century with long blonde hair and a corset tighter than a noose was glaring angrily at his former best friend as the other Slytherin was once again forced to the floor by guffaws. The giant pumpkin, formerly known as Scorpius Malfoy, soon found that perhaps toppling off his bench had not been a good idea seeing as he could no longer get up on account of his huge round costume. Albus, despite his anger, of course found this hilarious.

Lien was very happy with her zombie-Elvis outfit that she'd seen reflected in someone's dancing spoon and played with renewed vigour, causing the cutlery to break into a lively jig. Molly, her most avid fan who'd sat right at the front of the Hufflepuff table in order to get the best view, abandoned her food to clap along, though that may have been because her new vampire fangs were rather limiting the amount of food she could put in her mouth.

The song ended and most of the school either exited to the Hospital Wing or, if they were older, attempted to change their appearance back again themselves with no success. The six in the group who were not responsible (after Lien had gotten down from the stage with a shy bow and thunderous applause and thanked Isabella) merely marched over to the two who were.

"That was amazing." Jayna said, eyes alight. They all shared a hearty laugh when the two Slytherins appeared; Albus slowly rolling Scorpius through the aisles.

"Amazing display of magic sure, but did you really have to turn me into a girl?" Albus complained. James and Sam shared a look.

"As usual we have no idea what you're talking about-" James lied.

"But if we knew the people behind this blatant disregard for the school rules-" Sam continued.

"I'm sure they'd accept your compliments with gratitude." James concluded. Albus sighed.

"Any chance of the culprits changing me back?"

"I'm afraid that as far as I can see from the spell-work it has been made impervious to any other spells until November 1st, when it will vanish on its own." Albus shook his head but a smile curled the corners of his lips all the same.

"Well would you mind helping me help Scorpius up?" The two brothers grabbed a hand each and yanked him up, Molly helping to steady his balance as he got back onto his two feet.

"I'd say thanks but seeing as it's both your faults in the first place," Scorpius said, gesturing at the two Potters, "I'm just going to leave with what is left of my dignity." The other seven laughed.

Albus turned to Lien and said quickly; "Before we go I just wanted to reiterate that you were awesome." Lien grinned as the others murmured their agreement.

"Thanks." Albus made to follow Scorpius but was interrupted by a clearing of a throat behind him. They all turned to see Professor Vector (donning a very dashing outfit of Batman which made Albus a little less embarrassed about his current attire) trying to suppress a smile.

"If the culprits were here I'd have to give them detention for the rest of the term but I'd also privately thank them for adding just a little more excitement to the evening." James and Sam's eyes widened in surprise. "I would, of course, have to deny I ever said that should a member of staff ask."

"Of course." The two Gryffindors chorused.

"But unfortunately I have slightly darker news for the eight of you, seeing as I know you're all involved. Someone tried to break in through the protective spells this morning. We refrained from letting this information get round the school seeing as the man was successfully apprehended by our Auror team. The Aurors took him in for questioning but so far he has apparently refused to answer anything. I will be unable to inform you any more than this because I will only get news if it threatens the safety of my school."

The eight of them buzzed with questions but they knew their Headmistress did not have any of the answers.

"I suggest you get to your Common-Rooms before curfew. Goodnight." How Professor Vector still managed to carry that air of importance while wearing pointy bar ears they would never be sure.


	25. Of Information or the Lack of It

The first Quidditch match of the year commenced with pain on the side of the Ravenclaws and disappointingly easy victory in sight for the Gryffindors. As it had been for the past nineteen years, Gryffindor was equipped with some of the best players the school had ever seen, and with so many of them related they'd grown up playing together and knew exactly where to go and when.

Ravenclaw's slim chance of victory was riding on Dominque and Jason Nuttal or Nuts as he was more commonly named. Dominque Weasley could often guess the strategies devised by her cousins and siblings which gave Nuts the time to make a counter-attack. And Nuts was the Quidditch Captain and Chaser for Ravenclaw, a sixth year, and he was known for attempting the craziest of stunts that more often than not actually worked. Unfortunately, even Nuts had a weakness, which was his girlfriend, Chloe Green, who played in the same position as him for Gryffindor. Luckily he was her weakness too so at least it went both ways.

The commentator, Derrick Dabney, was a Gryffindor and the kind of boy Seraphina would date, which was all that needed to be said about his character. He was reasonably good-looking, though rather outshone by his twin sister, but no-one could really see why he attracted all the girls.

"And first up for Gryffindor it's their Chasers; Green, Nuts' girlfriend and Victoire Weasley's best friend, Nuttal, Nuts' brother and my twin's boyfriend, and Louis Weasley, Dominque's brother and Goldstein's boyfriend! Bloody Hell is every member of these teams related in some way?! Next it's their Beaters; the new but expected recruit; Fred Weasley, let's hope he lives up to his namesake's reputation, and Quidditch Captain and Head Boy, Kingston!" The crowd roared with approval as Luke Kingston flew onto the pitch. He incidentally happened to be the tallest and arguably one of the most gorgeous student in the school and everyone knew of his crush on the Head Girl, except the Head Girl herself. "Maybe if you win this match mate she'll actually-" He was cut off by Professor Avisana hitting him lightly on the head with her newspaper. "Right anyway, then it's the final two members of the team who may be the only players on the pitch who don't have a relation to the other house; their Keeper; Queshire, and finally, another new face, Seeker; Upton!" The team took a lap round the pitch to the cheers of the crowd and then settled into their places.

"Then Ravenclaw Chasers; Goldstein, I believe I've explained her relation, Dominque Weasley, again mentioned it, and Quidditch Captain, who needs no introduction but apparently I have to give it anyway; Nuts!" The Ravenclaws cheered, even Jayna who hated sport in general. Her fear of heights had rather limited her flying abilities last year but she'd managed it alright, she just refused to go higher than ten feet from the ground. "Then Beaters; Zabala, and Dabney, my sister and Caleb Nuttal's boyfriend, sorry sis but I hope you lose!" Another rap on the head made his apologise for his 'hardly unbiased' comment. "Jeez Professor was that really necessary? Next is new Keeper Finc- you know what it just says Mickey on your shirt so I'm not going to bother trying to read your surname, and finally Seeker; Garcia, who makes up for her absolute absurdity with her amazing snitch captures!"

The Ravenclaws cheered even louder for Kai Garcia because they all appreciated her 'absurdity'. If you were in Ravenclaw, weirdness was something to be proud of, and they were all quite confused when Derrick declared her oddness a bad thing. Patrick passed Jayna and Lydjah matching bronze and blue berets that were currently singing the Doctor Who theme tune and they donned them without question.

James and Sam both watched jealously as the players zoomed onto the pitch but contented themselves by watching what was sure to be an interesting match.

The match started with the uncommonly-friendly hand-shake between the two captains and almost every player's insistence to themselves that they wouldn't let their relationships get in the way of their game. This obviously didn't work.

The amount of dirty tricks employed by both teams were enough to rival a Gryffindor/Slytherin match with players faking injuries and loss of broom control left right and centre in order to distract their beloved or family. The match basically ended up riding on the two Seekers seeing as they were the only influential players who weren't likely to be distracted. Unfortunately for Ravenclaw, Kai was crashed into by a wildly diving Chloe Green (who was diving to distract Nuts from another of his insane ideas) and despite the penalty that was awarded to Ravenclaw (which resulted in the one and only goal of the entire match scored by Dominque) it gave April enough of a headstart in her dive to catch the snitch.

Disappointingly (or perhaps fortunately on Jayna's part) neither she nor James saw the end to the match because they were both pulled away from the game by none other than Harry Potter. The two Potters had hugged (James just about getting to the stage where he only did non 'manly'-back-slapping hugs in private) and Jayna suddenly felt the urge to cry which she quickly supressed.

"I'm sorry for making you miss some of the match." Harry said quickly, not noticing Jayna's flushed cheeks (because she was wearing a singing hat while meeting Harry Potter). "I wanted to apologise for it taking so long before I could debrief you; we've been searching for any of your kidnappers; they were gone by the time we went back to where you'd been held, but we've been called back to testify against the man caught trying to break through the protective spells. He's an ex Death-Eater, I thought he was dead but apparently not, but that's all we've been able to get out of him so far." He passed James a photo which he glanced at and then passed to Jayna. "Do you recognise him?"

James was about to shake his head when he noticed Jayna had gone very white. "Blackwood?"

Jayna coughed clearing her throat and letting a bit of the colour back into her face. "Not from the kidnapping but I've met him before. Stayed at my house a couple of times actually." She shuddered. "I swear we didn't know he was a Death-Eater otherwise my parents wouldn't have let him in the house." James seemed about to protest but she glared at him. "I know they wouldn't have let him in the house because it was too dangerous to harbour Death Eaters if the law was after him and all. Wouldn't want to disrupt the party." She said the last sentence in disgust and Harry looked at the young girl with pity. Jayna felt the look and felt a surge of anger that she composed before looking up again and handing back the photo. "He could have been part of our kidnapping but I didn't see him. Your office got my descriptions didn't it?"

"Yes we got them just fine, very detailed but unfortunately we haven't been able to put them to good use." Jayna blushed at the praise and looked at her feet. "From what we've been able to work out, the group that kidnapped you was made up of ex-Death Eaters we haven't heard from in years and presumed either dead or in hiding, but mostly just other people that we have no idea the identity of. We're hoping that our knowledge of Death Eaters will help us find some but we've been searching for these Death Eaters for years and never found them. The house you were held in was owned by 'John Smith'- clearly a fake name, and no-one can remember anyone ever coming in or out of the house, not that it was in a very well-used street anyway. They're after me for reasons so far unclear except maybe revenge, and I'm very sorry you two got wrapped up in that. I've got my best men and women on it but for the moment I'm afraid I have almost nothing." Jayna could see the frustration that underlined all his statements. The fact that it had put his son in danger didn't help any.

At that moment a great cheer went up from the Gryffindor side of the stadium accompanied by the groans from all the other houses who had hoped to play Gryffindor when they were at a disadvantage. Harry shook off his dark thoughts and smiled.

"I'm sorry for keeping you Miss Blackwood-"

"It's fine honestly I don't like Quidditch much anyway-" When both of them only stared at her in shock she quickly backtracked. "Well at least not at the moment when all the other teams are just getting thrashed by Gryffindor. Either way I had better get back to avoid the crush of everyone trying to get to the Gryffindor celebration party, which I of course have no knowledge of. Thank you for bringing me the information you could sir, I know it's probably not protocol." With a polite smile she vanished into the crowd. Harry turned to his son.

"She's very…"

"Ravenclaw? Pureblooded?" James suggested.

"I was going to say she was like your auntie Hermione when she was young but I suppose either will do. She certainly carries herself like a Pureblood and she's got the manners of one too."

"And the superiority complex." James muttered.

"Sorry what?"

"Nothing dad." Harry shrugged and let it go.

"I've been asked by your mother to inquire as to what you want for Christmas seeing as you're trying to prove a point by not answering any of our letters." James' face coloured slightly with shame, though if his dad knew the actual reason that he hadn't been replying (his annoyance at Al) James knew he'd be in for it.

"Ah you know me something Quidditch related would be awesome."

"Holyhead Harpies?"

"Of course." James scoffed. Because of his mother's former career for the team all of them were avid fans despite the number of times James had had to explain why he supported a team of all-girls. Besides, they were doing much better than the rest of his family's general favourites; (with the exception of George, Angelina, Roxanne and Fred on account of Angelina currently playing for the Appleby Arrows) the Chudley Cannons. "And some Honeydukes never goes amiss." Harry smiled.

"Got it." He noticed his son's restlessness and laughed. "Go and celebrate." James grinned back and was about to leave but then suddenly realised that unless something went dreadfully wrong again (and he hoped it wouldn't) he wouldn't see his dad again until Christmas, and flung himself rather ungracefully into his dad's waiting arms.


	26. Of Hidden Presents and Unfortunate Timing

Scorpius waited patiently in the Common-Room, his customary cup of coffee in his hand. He'd always loved waking up early but his body didn't usually agree with him and he needed a cup full of caffeine before he could make his moves less than sluggish. His father had told him to ask the house elves to bring him one when they came to clean the rooms, and to make sure he asked to see if they wanted anything in return. After the Battle of Hogwarts and the house-elves' participation the generation leaving Hogwarts at that time had all left with a much bigger appreciation for them. He'd asked and the House-Elves had only said that it would be a pleasure and that they would consider it an insult being paid literally back. So Scorpius had merely said that if there was ever a favour he could do he would be happy to do it for them. They'd reluctantly agreed to this and Scorpius had been able to accept his cup of coffee without guilt plaguing him.

He was waiting for Al, who woke up at the same time but needed almost an hour to get ready. It wasn't that he was vain, just that in the morning Albus always woke up with an afro of black curls that had to be combed for ages before it would settle into its usual neatness. Plus, his uniform had to be immaculate, crazy neat-freak that he was, but his clothes made him out to be the mysterious dark gentleman or something, rather than the annoying rich boy. Of course, Scorpius had taken a few shots of Albus with his crazy hair to save for a special occasion, even though he'd paid the price for them with a couple of rather inventive hexes (for someone who had just woken up); one had turned his hair into antlers and the other had glued his feet to the floor so the entire dormitory was presented with his embarrassed self. He'd played it off, joked around it, but it had been bloody annoying.

His musings were interrupted as he glanced over to the sofa next to him where Cara Blackwood was opening a small mound of presents. The final present was a slim but long box, almost long enough to be a wand box, and had a small card attached to the top. He could read the card from where he was sitting, though the handwriting did take a second to interpret.

'What's the password?'

Scorpius frowned; trying to think of what 'password' it could be referring to. Cara seemed to understand by her small intake of breath.

"Is it from your sister?" Willow Travers asked quietly. Cara made a small nod and opened the box. This only made Scorpius more confused; why was Jayna buying Cara presents (on what he presumed was her birthday) if they weren't speaking to each other? Inside was a gold necklace with a locket on the end. The locket was shaped into a perfect circle. It looked to be very pretty as far as Scorpius understood it.

Cara didn't even try to pry it open, instead leaning down and whispering so softly he didn't think Willow could hear, let alone him. The locket clicked open and Scorpius saw a quick flash of an image before Cara snapped it shut again and although she didn't cry Scorpius had a feeling that at the moment this was a close as she got. Willow pulled an arm round her and glared at anyone staring at her so he quickly looked at his lap. He didn't consider it safe to look up again before Albus tapped him on the shoulder.

"You alright?"

"Yeah. Don't think Blackwood is though."

"Jayna?"

"Nah her sister." He said pointing to the seat behind them. Before Scorpius could stop him Al was wandering over.

"Happy Birthday Blackwood." Al commented. Cara started with some surprise.

"Thanks."

"That's a pretty necklace you've got there." Cara didn't seem to notice Scorpius' face-palm or Albus' awkward tone as he tried to do small-talk.

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" She undid the chain and clipped it around her neck, hiding it under her collar. Albus turned to Scorpius and coughed quietly.

"You finished your coffee Scorp?"

"Yeah."

"Better get to breakfast then. See you around." He called to Cara and Willow who waved half-heartedly back.

 

"Hey, Lien right?"

"Er yeah." Lien replied, looking at the boy who'd come bounding over to her. She assumed he was a Ravenclaw seeing as she just about knew all the first years from her house now and they were outside waiting for Magical Theory to start, something she shared with the Ravenclaws.

"I just wanted to say that your music was excellent the other week." He said, a hint of a blush on his cheeks. Lien found herself warming to him immediately.

"Thank you." He stuck his hand out for her to shake.

"Gideon Edwards." She shook it.

"Lien Irby."

"Oh my fucking Merlin!" Lydjah yelled from behind them. The two spun around, breaking their handshake. Lydjah was staring at the broom closet door behind them. "There is a time and a place!"

"Lydjah- we were shaking hands..." Lien said confusedly.

"I wasn't talking about that- I was talking about my, er," She paused, looking at Gideon. "ability." She stopped again, slitting her eyes and not entirely in jest. "You dirty little slut."

"What are you talking about?"

"Let's just say I've seen into this bloody broom closet and you were doing a hell of a lot more than shaking hands with some random guy- who the hell is this kid anyway?"

"Gideon Edwards." The stunned boy stated. "I'm in your house."

"The best house congratulations." Lydjah said enthusiastically. The boy looked a little scared.

"Right. Er, see you around Lien."

"Yeah." He walked back to his friends. "What do you mean?" Lien said, turning back to Lydjah. Lydjah refused to answer.

"I have been mentally scarred- again! It was bad enough with Miller and Dabney yesterday- why on earth she's going to let that prick feel her up on Thursday I have no idea- but you're younger than me!"

"But I have a muggle boyfriend." Lydjah winced; her eyes flashing in a way that had Jayna been there she would've known meant Lydjah had just experienced another vision. Lien did not.

"Well maybe you're gonna snog this guy while you're still going out with him!" Lien didn't seem to notice the sudden loss of fake-anger in Lydjah's voice.

"Who was it?" Lydjah shook her head.

"If I tell you you're never going to be able to look at him again."

"Fine, what was I doing?" Lydjah shuddered.

"You really, really don't want me to go into that- Merlin! Just stay out of this closet for a while... And especially when I'm around."


	27. Of Falling Out and Your Deepest Desire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a thank you for my first kudos; here's another chapter early :)  
> This could get a bit confusing, but page breaks indicate cross-cuts

There aren't many people in the world who can affect an entire school's mood with their own. There especially aren't many people in the world who can affect an entire school's mood with their own when most of the school is older than them.

James Potter and Sam Andrews were not two such people individually. Together, or more specifically when they weren't together, they were extremely influential to the depressing mood that hung over Hogwarts that November. It didn't help, of course, that it was November, and only the most poetic of souls or those who had birthdays in November actually liked the month at all.

Everyone had noticed it on the first day, when James had sat with Ned instead of Sam. Straight away the feeling of uneasiness lingered in the classroom. And at lunch when they hadn't sat together again the whole school had been exposed to the second-years' discomfort. It had only taken a day before the entire school was feeling pessimistic. On the third day it had blown up when James and Sam had a shouting match in the corridor, about something the spectators did not understand, and then the two hot-headed Gryffindors had stormed off in opposite directions.

Two Ravenclaws had glanced at each other and a shared look of understanding had passed between the two.

"You take Andrews, I'll take Potter?" Jayna offered.

"Nah mate I should take Potter; you're only going to let your feelings for him cloud your judgement."

"I do not have feelings for him Lydjah." She paused and relented. "Not anymore." But she did take off after Sam rather than James. Lydjah settled for rolling her eyes and deciding to talk to her about it at the next sleepover.

 

"Sam's keeping something from me." James said quietly but the hurt in his voice was betrayed by the angry tone. He looked up at Lydjah inquisitively but decided she didn't know any better than he did.

 

"James won't understand." Sam said, finally, refusing to look at Jayna. Jayna sighed and sat down next to her, sensing this was going to take a while. Lydjah had told her about the room she'd found Sam in all those weeks ago and so had been able to follow her in without the use of the Map.

 

"What?" Lydjah asked, watching him pace from her position on the floor, not at all worried that he was going to fall because she'd seen him play Quidditch and if his balance wasn't impeccable then no-one's was, not that she'd ever tell him that.

 

"Tell me instead then- a person you don't give a shit over the opinion of is often helpful." Jayna, needless to say, was not great at comforting people.

 

"I don't know! She just keeps disappearing and won't tell me where she went." James yelled in frustration.

 

"Really?" Sam inquired sarcastically.

 

"Can't you find her on the Map?"

"No she takes it with her!"

"You haven't attempted following her?" Lydjah tried.

 

Jayna shrugged. "Possibly?"

 

"No- I'm not a stalker!" James cried.

 

Sam and Jayna both laughed; the awkwardness fading slightly.

 

Lydjah gave him a look.

 

"I'm dating someone." Sam blurted. She looked as if she wanted to clap her hand over her mouth but then straightened her shoulders staring defiantly at nothing in particular.

 

"Oh my God Lydjah- it was that one time!"

 

"So?" Jayna asked, confused.

 

"I WAS IN THE SHOWER!" Lydjah shouted.

 

Sam bit her lip.

 

"I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!" James yelled back.

 

"Well the thing is…" Sam trailed off.

 

"WHY WERE YOU FOLLOWING ME IN THE FIRST PLACE?!" Lydjah screeched.

"I was wondering why you were on the Quidditch pitch." James supplied easily.

"So you followed me?!"

"No; I was already on the Quidditch pitch- I saw you go into the Gryffindor changing rooms and thought-"

 

"Oh just leave me hanging." Jayna said, rolling her eyes in an exaggerated way, trying to get the girl to continue.

 

"You thought I was going to snog someone didn't you?!" James shrugged sheepishly. "The Ravenclaw Tower showers broke so I went to the Quidditch pitch but it was dark so I went into Gryffindor's by accident."

 

Sam laughed awkwardly. "I'm not just dating anyone- I'm dating a girl." She said very fast.

 

"Sorry?" James said with a hopeful smile. Lydjah rolled her eyes and put the subject back on track.

 

"Yeah, and his problem with that is?"

 

"Well, you can't exactly make her tell you- Merlin I'm going to regret saying this- but we really need you guys doing pranks and things- it cheers up the rest of the school."

 

"I don't know." Sam stammered, bewildered by Jayna's reaction.

 

"I thought everyone hated our pranks." James said, confused.

 

"Well," Jayna started, "No-one should have a problem with that and if he does I will personally kick him in the dick."

 

"Nah; I mean, that one with the staircases was just plain inconvenient but there will come a time when Hogwarts needs cheering up…" Lydjah looked away, staring off into the distance.

 

"Thanks I guess." Sam laughed. "It's just," she began, sobering slightly, a faint hint of panic surfacing "he knows I like guys so how's he going to react when he finds out I like girls too?"

 

"Lydjah, are you ok?" James asked, worried when Lydjah hadn't moved at all for several minutes.

 

"The only reason he should be upset is that now he's got more competition." Sam laughed appreciatively. Jayna sighed. "You're his best friend- you know him better than I do- and obviously I'm not going to tell him- but I think you should. Take your time if you want but you guys' friendship is a symbol to everyone else in this school- you're defeating sexism just by being best friends. So please continue that friendship or I'm going to have to find a stupid ginger from that family of his to be friends with."

 

"Yeah I'm fine." Lydjah said, reverting back to herself suddenly. "Oh wait- you don't know."

 

"Ok, I will tell him… Just not until I see how this relationship works out."

 

"Know what?"

 

"Fine by me- but do try to make an effort to be his friend- I'm pretty sure he deserves a friend that acknowledges him once in a while."

 

"That I'm a seer."

"A what?"

"I see things- in the future."

"Like Professor Trelawney?"

"No thank God. Less crystal balls, though I still need those to make Prophecies or to focus on specific people. More random visions of people snogging and then the occasional important one."

"And you've seen that Hogwarts is going to get upset?" James asked, sceptically. Lydjah shook her head.

"No- I've seen that Hogwarts is going to fall. And all locked in green won't see the sunlight again."

 

"I know." Whispered Sam guiltily.

 

"What?! Locked in green? When's this going to happen? Do we need to warn someone?"

"No. It won't be for a few years I don't think. And even closing the school won't prevent this."

"So that's it; everyone's going to die?"

"I didn't say that. I said no-one's going to be able to _see_."

 

"Thanks for talking to me Jayna." Sam continued.

 

"Because that makes so much more sense."

"My visions hardly ever make sense." Lydjah rubbed her forehead.

"Is there any other visions concerning that?" James asked.

"No." She hesitated, thinking about her earlier prophecy when James and Jayna had both been kidnapped. _I can't tell him or her; just in case._ "No there's not."

 

"No problem." Jayna smiled.

 

"Oh right. Good."

"I've… got to go James. I'll, er, see you around." Lydjah walked out leaving James buried deep in thought.

 

The door swung shut behind Sam's retreating figure and Jayna stretched, waiting, as patiently as was possible for her, for her best friend. A shimmer of light caught her eye and she wandered over to the huge mirror in the centre of the room, wondering why Sam had been staring into it.

 

Lydjah slammed into Sam rather too forcefully for her liking. They were exactly the same height so both ended up clutching their foreheads and groaning.

"Sorry." They both said at the same time and then laughed slightly.

"James is in the-"

"Astronomy Tower?"

"Yeah. Do you have the Map or something?"

"Nah. He's got it actually. But he always goes up to the Astronomy Tower when he's pissed."

"Oh well if it helps I think I calmed him down a bit."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks. You and Jayna… You didn't have to do that."

"Course we did. That's what friends do." Sam gave her a strange look but then slowly nodded, a hint of a smile spreading across her face.

"Yeah I suppose so." Lydjah grinned. "Jayna's in the mirror room by the way."

"Thanks. Oh and I know about you being bi by the way." Sam's eyes widened in horror.

"Jayna's told you already?"

"Nah I had a vision last year."

"Merlin _I_ didn't even know last year." Lydjah laughed.

"Yeah don't doubt Jayna to keep a secret if it's important. If it's not she'll flout it to the world so don't ever tell her something embarrassing about yourself." It was Sam's turn to laugh.

"Got it. See you around Dawson."

"See you."

 

Jayna wasn't sure how long she'd been staring into the mirror before she realised what it was. She had her hand on the mirror, desperate for the image to be real even though she knew it couldn't be. Well maybe part of it could be but the really important bit couldn't be.

"Oi what are you still doing in here?" The sound of Lydjah's voice tore her eyes away and she saw her friend's soften. "I'm sorry I should have warned you about the mirror." Jayna just turned her face back to it. "What do you see?"

She didn't expect Jayna to answer straight away and waited patiently for Jayna to sum it up. "I see myself, at 17, and I've got the Head Girl badge. Cara's stood at my shoulder and she's holding up a copy of a book I've written, it's published, and she's grinning. Devy's using her for a piggy-back and he's holding his wand dangerously close to her eyes. And then A is holding my hand on the other side of me and he's smiling. Merlin he looks so happy Lydjah." She finished brokenly and Lydjah gave her a hug.

"I'm sorry." Jayna felt a flash of determination.

"That's my plan for the next few years then."

"What is?"

"My plan is to be able to look into that mirror and see something achievable." Strong was not a word often applicable to Jayna (she had no muscle strength to speak of and had the pain tolerance of a new-born) but in that moment she felt it. "I'll come back here next year and every year I need to after that until my deepest desire is achievable."

"What if it never is?" Lydjah asked gently. Jayna just shrugged.

"Optimism, my dear, is something you would be wise to learn."

"Oh shut up." Lydjah said, swatting the top of Jayna's head as they walked out.


	28. Of Break-Ups and, Predictably, Arguments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is SO short sorry it's just the rest of next chapter didn't fit with this so

Lien helped herself to the food in front of her; no longer even the slightest bit worried about it after Molly had explained the whole house-elves thing. Molly was slumped almost into her porridge next to her; she was rather the opposite of an early riser.

The owls swooped in and dropped Molly's usual newspaper in front of her (Lien still couldn't get over the moving pictures) and also a letter for Lien. Lien picked it up and noted the writing on the front and grinned to herself as she tore it open.

_Dear Lien,_

_I still can't believe I have to write letters to you instead of just sending you an email or something. I swear if I could ring you I would've done that but as it is I'll have to write this in a letter._

_I just don't think this relationship is going to work out anymore. I'm really sorry. It's just I can't deal with only fortnightly contact for most of the year through letters of all things. I hope we can still be friends but I understand that with you quitting stage coach we're unlikely to see each other._

_I wish you all the best,_

_Brendan_

Lien read the letter three times before the first of the tears dripped onto it and smeared the ink.

"Lien? Are you alright?" Molly's concerned voice knocked her out of her shock.

"No."

"What's happened?"

"Brendan broke up with me and I'm going to murder Lydjah."

"What-" Molly's question fell on deaf ears as Lien stood up from the table and hid her tear-stained cheeks with her hair, marching over to where Lydjah was sitting.

"Lydjah I need to speak with you." Lydjah took in her face and sighed.

"Yes I suppose you do." They walked out of the Great Hall and into the mostly empty corridor.

"Tell me you didn't know he was going to break up with me." Lydjah sighed again.

"I knew."

"Why the Hell didn't you tell me?!"

"Because I can't tell everyone what's going to happen to them can I? That just ruins their chance of experiencing it themselves. Sure you probably didn't want to experience that, but who's to say it wouldn't have been worse if I'd told you outside your lesson that day? I try and make the best judgement I can but it's not always bloody easy you know. I am terrified, terrified that not telling Jayna about that Prophecy I made is going to end in her death. Just because I can see the future doesn't mean I can change it. That's not why I have this ability. I have this ability so that I can plan to make the best out of what's going to come. And I'm sorry if that hurt you but it's served me well so far and I'm not going to change just so that I can spare one person a temporarily broken heart."

"How do you know it's only going to be temporary?" Lien muttered sulkily, finding no other point to argue from.

"The broom-closet vision remember? I'd say there are other fish in the sea but I guess you already know that. If that's all you wanted to say I've got a class to go to."


	29. Of Homework and, Of Course, The Accompanying Chat

November had finally faded and December had brought cold but not yet snow, so the six first-years had all turned up in the library as normal and sat down, pulling out various pieces of homework, and began to work as this would be their last meeting before the holidays.

The group sat as per usual; Lien, Molly, Roxanne, Rose, Albus and Scorpius. Lien finished her Herbology homework quickly and swapped it with Roxanne's Potions as they always did, both hating the other person's favourite subject. Molly and Albus argued about who was sure to get into the Quidditch World Cup next year as they always did and Rose and Scorpius talked quietly about anything that came to their minds as comfortably as if they'd been talking their whole lives just like they always did.

Roxanne flicked her short dark hair out of her eyes, glaring at the colour of it. It wasn't that she wanted to be ginger particularly; it would never go with her slightly darker complexion and she wanted to keep that because it meant she got the best tans, but it was annoying when people didn't recognise her as a Weasley.

"Roxanne, why have you got a Ravenclaw tie around your head?" Lien asked. Roxanne shrugged, touching it with the tips of her fingers.

"I found it in the corridor; it helps keep the hair out of my eyes seeing as it won't fit in a bobble. Besides it matches my necklace." Lien conceded to this point- Roxanne never took off her blue necklace (she wore it in place of a tie. For some reason the teachers didn't agree with her)- she's had it since she was tiny- a gift from her auntie Fleur.

"You don't think anyone's looking for it?"

"Their fault for dropping it in a corridor."

 

"Brazil isn't going to get in this year Al- it's not their home-ground."

"But they were second last time! Clearly they're still good!"

"Yeah and Bulgaria won last time doesn't mean _they_ 're going to get in."

"Well of course not- Krum's not going to come out of retirement again is he? Besides they might not have him back; he's 41 now."

"Exactly! So them coming second has nothing to do with it- you just want them to get in because you bloody fancy Flores." Albus blushed.

"I do not fancy Flores I just think he's amazing."

"I thought you'd like Seekers more than Chasers anyway seeing as that's what you want to be."

"Just because I like playing as a Seeker more than a Chaser doesn't mean I can't appreciate the other positions."

"Can both of you shut up? Some of us are trying to do homework here." Roxanne interrupted crossly. Albus and Molly both muttered an apology and shared a grin; they loved pissing Roxanne off seeing as she was usually so laid-back.

 

"Ok… Favourite colour?" Scorpius asked.

"Purple."

"Really?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with purple?"

"Nothing it's just most people seem to prefer their house colours."

"What's your favourite colour then?"

"Silver. And let me just say that was even before I got sorted." Rose nodded. "Your turn."

"Erm… Favourite Quidditch team?" Scorpius winced.

"I don't have one."

"What?"

"I don't really follow Quidditch all that much."

"But you were at the Quidditch World Cup. I saw you!" Scorpius blushed and tried to convince himself it wasn't because he was pleased she'd recognised him.

"Yeah we got tickets because my mum works in the Foreign Affairs and Sports Department and we were expected to show up. I don't not like it or anything I'm just not obsessed like some people." He said teasingly, poking her with his foot under the table. Roxanne yelped as Scorpius kicked her in the ankle.

"Oi Scorp mind your bloody feet would you?" He laughed. Rose and Albus were staring at her in amazement. "What?"

"That's the first time you've called Scorp by anything except his last name." Roxanne shrugged.

"Meh he's earnt it." All six of them burst into laughter.

"Thanks, I think." Scorpius chuckled. "Oh that reminds me." He reached into his bag and pulled five badly wrapped presents. "I'm sorry about the wrapping." He muttered as he handed them out to their intended recipients.

Lien and Molly had both got a bar of Honeydukes' finest which they thanked him for profusely. Roxanne got a load of peppermint toads. She looked at him in amazement and he shrugged. "Al told me they were your favourite."

"Thanks."

Rose opened hers and blinked when a book fell out. She turned it over to look at the cover and her eyes widened in surprise. _The Entire Collection of Chudley Cannons by Assorted Sources_. "But- how? This doesn't come out till February!" Scorpius rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly.

"Well 'Assorted Sources' include my mum's best friend so she managed to get a copy for me. I hope you don't think I'm being too pretentious."

"Pretentious? Scorp it's amazing thank you!" The attention turned to Albus who was tugging at the cellotape with some difficulty.

"Sorry." Scorpius winced. "I've never had to wrap my own presents before." Then he winced again knowing how pretty-little-rich-boy that sounded but his friends just gave him 'you're lucky' looks. Al finally managed to tug his present open and pull it out of the remainder of the wrapping paper. A pocket size Wizard's chess-set greeted him. "When you open it, it enlarges. I just remember you complaining that you couldn't take your set anywhere with you without having to put spells on it." Albus grinned and socked Scorpius in the shoulder.

"Thanks Scorp." Everyone took this as their cue to bring out their own presents. Scorpius ended up with a snake-shaped chocolate bar from Roxanne (he raised his eyebrows and she smirked), a huge box of toffee from Molly and Lien, a book filled with pictures of Wizarding motorbikes and notes on them from Rose ("I knew you loved them from the way you mentioned them the other week and I asked my granddad about all the adjustments Wizards have made to them so the notes are all his; I've never seen him so excited) and a coffee flask that had a permanent heating charm on it from Al.

Their homework resumed after that with Roxanne checking Albus' Potions work and Scorpius and Molly moaning their way through Transfiguration, broken by the occasional teasing argument about Quidditch, until they all realised it was high past time to leave if they wanted any hope of getting dinner, and, promising to write over the holidays, they left the library.


	30. Of Unexpected Gifts and Falling Over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Technically) Halfway through! Interested to see how you guys are finding this so far :)

"So you're staying here?" James asked as they meandered down to the Great Hall. Sam had disappeared yet again so when James had seen Jayna walking by herself in the same direction as him it had seemed only natural to catch up and strike up a conversation. It was the last day of term and classes had just finished; there was just the end-of-term dinner to attend and then the train would show up to take them home.

"Yeah." Jayna didn't seem at all surprised by her unexpected company. "Lydjah's family invited me but I already feel like I'm infringing on them."

"Why did you go to Lydjah's this summer? I mean I know you would've preferred to but surely the law doesn't just sit with what you want." Jayna laughed at his bluntness.

"No you're right. Fortunately for me Lydjah's grandma was apparently my mother's cousin, making Lydjah my second cousin twice removed, not that I knew until after Mum's-" She choked. James regretted bringing up the subject. "Not until after mother's death-" She paused for a beat too long, seeming to be rolling the words over in her head, before continuing. "So there was enough relation for the law not to ship me off to my closest relatives, which would be my great Uncle Alexis as far as I'm aware. I never met my mother's side of the family; her parents cut her off for marrying my father and she never spoke of them so I don't know if I have any relations on that side. They never tried to make contact with my mother so I suppose I'm probably better off without them anyway."

"I'm sor-"

"If you're going to say you're sorry please don't."

"I wasn't!" He said quickly. She raised her eyebrow. "I was going to say I'm… Sorting what you said in my head so it makes sense."

"Right." She said sceptically, drawing out the 'i'. He glared at her and she smiled innocently, changing the subject. "Besides, Scorp's staying so I'll finally be able to take him up on that chess rematch he offered."

"When have you been playing chess with Malfoy?"

"At one of the Socials last year. Cara had just gotten to the stage where she actually cared about those awful things so I was forced to resort to finding other friends. Not that I minded seeing as thrashing people at chess is one of my favourite past times."

"You should try playing Al; I've never seen him lose."

"I don't think I'm that good; I mostly just take advantage of all my opponents' complete incompetence. Though if Al's as good as you say maybe he's taught Scorp a few tricks."

"Maybe-" He cut himself off as they reached the entrance to the Great Hall and he spied the huge collection of all his family members around the Gryffindor table. His eyes widened with dawning horror. "Shit!"

"What?!" Jayna asked, glancing around and then starting in surprise as James tugged her round the corner and out of sight.

"It's Louis' birthday today!"

"Your cousin?"

"Yeah. And I haven't got him a present! I'm so bad at remembering dates I just completely forgot." James wailed. He started cursing repeatedly under his breath, pacing a hole into the floor. Jayna grabbed hold of his wrist and forced him to stop.

"Calm the fuck down." He shut up. "He's on the Quidditch team right? So skip dinner, sneak into Hogsmeade and buy him something Quidditch related."

"You're right. I'll do that." He turned to leave. "Wait, how did you know I could sneak into Hogsmeade?"

"I didn't. You just confirmed my suspicions. Good to know." He glared at her.

"Goddamnit."

 

The snow had finally settled into a thin layer of white during dinner and was still continuing to dust the ground in light powder as the carriages departed to Hogsmeade station. Jayna was relieved to see other people had also gone down to the station with the intention of just saying goodbye to their friends rather than actually getting on the train themselves. She pushed through the crowd, pulling her hat further down over her ears.

She'd already said goodbye to Lydjah and gifted her with a present that she wasn't allowed to open until Christmas (and Jayna was sure had already been torn open) and presents for her parents too. She finally found James who was just as out of breath as she was, handing a crudely wrapped gift to Louis. She waited until his older cousin had gotten on the train before tapping him on the shoulder and presenting her (also badly wrapped but she had no excuse other than her complete lack of artistic ability) present.

"Merry Christmas." James glanced at her and his eyes widened in surprise. Her nose was Rudolf-red from the cold and her hands looked positively blue; James couldn't believe she'd bothered to come out into the cold just to give him a present.

"Shit Blackwood; I didn't get you anything." Jayna laughed.

"It's fine, I only got it just now anyway; I was struck with inspiration when I saw how you forgot your cousin's birthday. Of course then I had to buy everyone else a present." He took the present from her but didn't open it just yet.

"Oh. What did you get them? And how did you get them so quickly?"

"I didn't. I'm planning to send theirs by post. And I haven't decided what to buy most of them. Do Sam and Al like Hogsmeade sweets?"

"Sam likes sugar quills and Al likes blood pops little vampire that he is." They both laughed.

"Thanks. Now open yours." James turned back to the present in his hands and pulled open the paper. A small clear ball rolled into his palm.

"It's a special Remembrall- I've programmed all your family's birthdays into it- I got Lydjah to ask them all for me- as well as the seven of ours. It'll glow red three days before one of the birthdays." He blinked at it for several seconds and then caught Jayna's eye and pulled her into a warm hug. Jayna froze and then wrapped her arms hesitantly round his back. He broke the hug too early, both of them avoiding eye-contact and glowing bright red to match their noses.

"Sorry."

"It's fine." They both studied their feet and then by some cosmic coincidence (or just Jayna's awful balance) she slipped on the ice below her feet, despite not having moved, and grabbed his arm to keep herself upright. He wasn't on the steadiest footing himself however and they both toppled into the snow.

James heard Jayna's laughter filled apologies before he realised what had happened and joined in himself. He jumped up, brushing the snow off his face and his glasses (having landed face-first), and grabbed her freezing hand to yank her up. Jayna cursed the Goosebumps that flew up her arms but James didn't seem to notice them. The train whistled and they both started. Jayna frantically pushed James towards the train as the engine puffed into life.

"Go, go, go; you're going to miss it!" He jumped onto the carriage that already had his trunk on it and yelled something at her that she didn't quite catch as the train began to roll away.

"What?!" He shouted something again and then gave up and mimed writing. She gave him a thumbs-up, understanding him, and waved until he was out of sight, trying not to think about the long trek that awaited her to get back to the castle.


	31. Christmas; Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be 8 Christmas parts, so basically 8 chapter thirty-ones

"So you can do magic now?" Lien sighed as her mother whispered-hissed the question she'd received 14 times since arriving home (which was impressive seeing as there were only three other people in her house- excluding today of course when the majority of her family were in the next room (hence the whispering)).

"Yeah Mum. But not here; only in magical settlements until I'm 17." She passed her Mum another napkin and sighed, wondering why she'd been put on kitchen duty when all she wanted to do was play on the PS4 (how she had missed it) with her cousins.

"Why 17?"

"That's when I become of age."

"How strange." The ding that announced the turkey was ready halted Lien's response as she rushed to take it out of the oven. The carrots and parsnips looked as if they'd been in for just a little too long but the stuffing still needed a few more minutes. Lien sighed wishing she could use her wand to make things a little easier but then straightened her shoulders. She'd managed eleven years without a wand; she could manage two weeks.

Pearl's footsteps sounded in the hall and she stuck her head into the kitchen.

"Is dinner ready?"

"Almost." Lien replied. "Could you set out the cutlery Pearl?" Pearl was currently in her GCSE year but as far as Lien could see the stress had alleviated for Christmas.

Of course, all the owls turning up with various Christmas presents for Lien had terrified her sister but she'd calmed down eventually. Lien had been surprised to receive one from Jayna (four days before Christmas; Jayna wanted to be very sure it arrived on time) and even more surprised to find a copy of a muggle fantasy story. The note had read (after more than a little struggling to actually work it out; Jayna's handwriting was _terrible_ );

_Dear Lien,_

_Merry Christmas! Sorry this is early but I'd prefer it arrived early rather than late. How are your holidays going? Hogwarts always looks so lovely in the winter though it's bloody freezing up here. Where do you even live anyway? My owl seems to know more than me in this regard._

_Anyway, Molly told me you love reading muggle fiction novels which is a passion both me and Lydjah share and I would like to heartily recommend one of our favourite books; Clockwork Angel. It's the first in a series of three all of which are already out so there's no need to worry about not being able to get the next one for yonks. I really hope you enjoy it._

_Your friend,_

_Jayna Blackwood_

_PS: Will Herondale is mine_

The way she'd ended it with a plain declaration of friendship had lightened Lien's day even more than the amazing book Jayna had given her. She thought it rather embarrassing that she hadn't found it herself despite actually living in the muggle world.

She'd sent a copy of one of her favourite books back; The Hunger Games which Jayna had received and read apparently in one day. Lien suggested buying the second one for her birthday and she could almost feel Jayna's excitement through the parchment because of the amount of question marks about various cliff-hangers, all of which Lien had refused to answer.

She'd already received Molly, Al and Scorp's presents and was pleasantly shocked on Christmas day when three more had arrived from Lydjah, Sam and James. Sam and James had bought her a joint present of a carol-singing chocolate Christmas tree. She was plenty aware however that they'd made several changes to the carols and found herself laughing at the clever (if rude) lyrics they'd made up.

_Lien,_

_Merry Christmas! I hope the muggle world isn't getting you down (it sure is depressing me). How many times have your folks asked about your magic? Mine asked a total of 27 times on my first Christmas home._

_Anyway if you use your present in front of your parents please don't mention who it's from because they'll hate us before we've even met them._

_Sam_

_Lien,_

_Christmas wishes and all that. I hope our sense of humour in your present amuses you as much as it amused us to make. I'd suggest perhaps not playing it in front of your parents but I suppose it's your funeral._

_James_

_PS. Molly asks if you guys have all the same traditions but then I pointed out that you wouldn't know seeing as you don't know our traditions so basically owl Molly._

_PPS. How do you use a TV?_

_PPPS. I've been informed that all TVs are different._

_PPPPS. What do you even use a TV for? Ours is just showing grey dots that move occasionally._

Lien planned to ask her Dad to answer James' questions. She'd let her sister hear the singing Christmas tree as a sorry for the near heart-attack she'd had because of the owls. Pearl claimed she'd lost weight from laughing so much.

Lydjah had bought her the Complete Guide from Muggle to Magic which she said she planned to someday give a copy of to her Mum in order to explain everything. Lien had found it extremely useful and had cleared up any confusions she had about the differences between the two worlds.

_Lien,_

_Happy Christmas! My holidays are unfortunately rather stressful (half my family being magic and still trying to hide it from my mother is extremely taxing). How are yours? What have you got for Christmas? Anything good? Do you have any other family round that you have to hide the magic from? I read in the Daily Prophet this week that this Muggleborn who'd lived with her auntie and uncle her entire life wasn't allowed to tell them about her magic because her parents were technically still alive. How stupid is that?_

_I hope you like your present (and Jayna's because if you don't fancy Will Herondale you must be a hetero-sexual boy in disguise). I plan on giving a copy to my Mum someday- so you think it explains everything well enough?_

_Thank you so much for my present- it's a gorgeous bracelet. Where did you get it?_

_Oh bloody Hell I think my Mum's coming up the stairs._

_Lydjah_

 

She was distracted from the memories by her family streaming in through the door as her mother announced it was time to eat. Her various aunties and uncles continued whatever boring conversation they'd been having in the sitting-room as they came in. Her cousins Andy and David sent her annoyed looks (her chores had interrupted the game they were playing and it's rather hard to continue a three-player game with only two people) as they bounded in and sat down though they did brighten up at the sight of the food. Her other cousins (who usually had a slightly-less-boring-but-still-not-interesting-enough-for-Lien conversation in another room) walked in just before her granddad appeared with his customary pipe.

"Can I have a scotch Lien?" He asked as he sat down. One of her aunties shot him a disapproving look but the rest of the family were used to it by now; it was just granddad. Lien poured the drink and immersed herself in the Scottish dialect that she didn't hear very often anymore, even though she now lived in Scotland for nine months of the year. She thought it was strange how they could block out the country's natural sound, but then supposed that it wasn't natural for the Wizards and Witches who'd set up the school and Hogsmeade village.

She loved Hogwarts, she really did, but she knew that it couldn't ever replace her home.


	32. Christmas; Part Two

Christmas at the Weasley's had always been the loudest, largest, craziest gathering of people Molly had ever been part of. She loved it. Her Auntie Ginny and her Uncle Bill had just run through the kitchen screaming, and they were the adults. Victoire and Teddy were currently at his Grandma's house but they were coming back for dinner. Her Gran cooked the most gorgeous of meals despite having to cook for twenty-five people. They all ate outside of course, there was no way they'd all fit in the Burrow kitchen. The younger Molly and her sister Lucy usually helped their Gran with Christmas dinner. The two Mollys kept up the conversation and Lucy would occasionally nod and smile as she concentrated on her task.

"Congratulations on getting into Hufflepuff dear." Her Gran grinned. Molly rolled her eyes.

"It's not like I passed a test Gran, you have to get into one of them."

"You still deserve congratulations. Have you made any friends apart from the rabble lot in there?" She asked, jerking her chin (as her hands were covered in flour from the pudding) towards the door to the sitting room where most of her family were laughing and yelling.

"Yeah I have actually. Almost all the girls in my dorm are nice but my best friend is Lien Irby, she's a Hufflepuff too, a Muggle-Born." Molly pulled her wand out of her back pocket and produced an image of one of the photos she'd taken with her friend. This one was taken near the Black Lake by Dominque and the two Hufflepuffs turned towards the camera and stuck their tongues out in unison. Her Gran laughed as Lucy clapped excitedly. The two of them turned towards her, not used to Lucy acting so loud.

"Is my magic fun Luce?" Lucy grinned and clapped again. Molly laughed. "Maybe I'll show you a bit more later if you want." Lucy nodded shyly.

"Hey kiddos." Charlie Weasley strolled into the kitchen, shaking the snow out of his short hair and messing up Lucy's ginger locks with his calloused hands, knocking her glasses onto the end of her nose. She patted the hand and fixed her glasses but didn't turn around, too focused on stirring the gravy.

"Uncle Charlie!" Molly threw her arms round Charlie's waist. He picked her up and swung her round in a circle.

"Don't tell the other kids I did that or they'll all want one." He said mock-sternly to his niece. She giggled but the quickly regretted shouting his name so loudly as the rest of their family burst into the kitchen.

"Charlie!" Bill grasped his brother into the first hug. After that it was chaos, as it always was when someone arrived.

"Uncle Charlie!"

"Merry Christmas son!" Molly was sure that must be Granddad even though she couldn't see him.

"James! You've already hugged him! I haven't hugged him once yet!" Lily admonished crossly, her hands on her hips. Percy waved over Charlie's shoulder at his children as he hugged him, who waved back with an exasperated and identical roll of their eyes.

Charlie was slowly dragged into the sitting room by several different nieces and nephews as his Mum shepherded them all out of the kitchen again and closed the door behind them, leaning against it and blowing a hair off her red face.

"Honestly, why did I have so many children?" Her Gran moaned but she was smiling. "Back to work then guys."


	33. Christmas; Part Three

Albus usually loved Christmas at his grandparents. Unfortunately, as every other one of his cousins who'd joined Hogwarts this year were congratulated on their house, all his Aunties and Uncles couldn't quite bring themselves to congratulate him on Slytherin so instead asked about his friends.

When Albus proudly stated that his best friend was Scorpius Malfoy there was even a shocked gasp from his Auntie Angelina. Albus thanked Merlin for Rose who immediately launched into the story of the Halloween prank, describing with humorous detail Albus' outfit, as well as her own (Rose had been turned into a blast-ended skrewt, much to the amusement of her other Gryffindors). James had bowed at the end and George had given him a standing ovation, choking on his chocolate (a gift from Audrey) in his laughter.

Then George had asked about his other pranks and James had gone back as far as the one on the 2nd of September, the dungbombs spelling 'Slytherin sucks' to which most of the adults had started to laugh at and then they remembered Albus and cut themselves off leaving them all in an awkward silence. Albus rolled his eyes.

"Merlin people you're acting like joining Slytherin automatically makes me a racist Pureblood maniac. Even I thought that prank was funny, and pretty clever too. I'm not stupid; I know there were a lot of bad people in Slytherin, but Andromeda was a Slytherin and you're all perfectly fine with her. I don't care if she's the exception to the rule, I can be too." Harry and Ginny grinned at their son. James pointedly looked away but no-one was watching him.

"Well I think green is a very pretty colour on you." His sister said firmly, as if that settled the matter. Everyone burst into laughter. "I meant handsome!" She shrieked and Albus gathered her onto his lap, not bothering to tell her why they were really laughing before he tickled her mercilessly. "Alby! Alby stop!" She laughed. Albus ignored her and carried on tickling her stomach.

Fred came over and mussed up his hair.

"Do we get to call you Alby too?" Albus stopped tickling Lily to glare at him. Lily took the opportunity to run to Hugo and hide behind him.

"Some Gryffindor courage you've got there Lils." Louis smirked. She stuck her tongue out at him. Bill grabbed her from behind and she yelled, twisting to see who had caught her.

She gave him her best glare. "William Arthur Weasley let go of me this instant!" She stamped her foot in the air and Bill almost dropped her in surprise (at nine she was a little heavy). Ginny began to laugh, falling off the sofa in her giggles.

"I taught her that!" She gasped. Harry looked down at his wife with amusement before turning to see her brother standing menacingly over her, Lily still clutched in his arms. He dropped her in her father's lap (she buried her face into his shoulder, still giggling). Ginny looked up at Bill and shrieked, much like her daughter had and jumped up, leading her brother on a chase around the house. Fleur rolled her eyes.

"They're grown adults now and they still behave like children." She was fighting a smile though. Ginny ran back into the room and toward Hermione to whisper in her ear. Hermione grinned and nodded, tapping Ginny on the head with her wand. Ginny slowly disappeared until only a vague outline of her was visible. She hid behind the sofa as Bill charged into the room.

"Has Ginny come back in here?" The kids chorused no at the same time and Bill narrowed his eyes.

At that moment the happy shout of 'Uncle Charlie' was heard through the kitchen and Bill decided to give up on finding his sister in order to be the first to greet the final Weasley to arrive.


	34. Christmas; Part Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late guys! I have been stuck without any internet so have two chapters :)

James dug into his food with all the gusto of a growing teenage boy, especially eager as he had missed his breakfast on account of his, er, actually nothing happened he just woke up late. Right. He woke up late… On Christmas day.

Goddamnit.

The table, as it always was, went in almost perfect age order from Arthur at the top to Hugo at the bottom. This protected the adults from the boys' disgusting eating (except Ron who'd been demoted to the middle of the table at his wife's insistence because she couldn't stand worrying about him choking to death as he shovelled food into his mouth faster than a bullet-train) but unfortunately not the girls. Poor Dominque was sandwiched in-between her brother and Fred who were happily recounting the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw Quidditch match. Victoire looked at her sympathetically as she ate with one hand, the other holding Teddy's under the table.

The air around the table had been charmed to be the same temperature as inside, but around the bubble, snow was falling gently to the ground. James itched to go and play in it, which was perhaps the motivation for almost inhaling his food. For the oddest reason, he suddenly had an image of dancing in said snow, but before he could wonder about it, it was gone and James was left feeling a little confused.

He shrugged it off as he reached for the gravy and groaned when it stuck to his hand. He peered down the table at Roxanne.

"Again?" She smirked.

"Well if you didn't fall for it every year I wouldn't do it." James glared at her.

It was rather hard to eat with a gravy boat attached to your hand but James just about managed. So what if he was eating his slice of meat like it was a lollipop? It wasn't as if he was going to ask someone to cut up his food. Fred asked James how he managed to do the costumes (they'd charmed the seats to have a chain but varied reaction to a transfiguration spell. Sam cast it on the Hufflepuffs and the Gryffindors, James did the Ravenclaws and the Slytherins and it spread up the tables) and when he looked back at his plate it was to see two small hands retreating from his plate with a knife and fork, and his food to be cut up into chunks. He followed the hands up to their owner and smiled when he saw his sister.

"Thanks Lils." To his surprise she glared at him.

"That's the last nice thing I do for you until you make up with Al." He blinked and she crossed her arms, fixing him with one of her infamous glares.

"Fine." Her eyes lit up. "Don't do nice things for me." She glared at him again.

When pudding floated across the garden to them James savoured the look on Roxanne's face when her pudding exploded on it. He didn't much enjoy the ice that was poured down his back later on, but he found that pouring the gravy on top sorted out the problem. Roxanne, of course, thought that was disgusting, even as her brother guffawed next to them.

The snowball fight that ensued lasted for the rest of the day (the adults were quite glad to have some time away from them to chat together and were not about to stop them playing) and James smiled when they Apparated home to find a letter from Jayna neatly addressed to him and another from Sam. He tore open the one from Sam first and nearly forgot about Jayna's until just before he went to bed due to his laughter at Sam's description of her Christmas.

_James,_

_Christmas is bloody boring without magic. My Dad had to cancel; they still need him up there so I won't see him till next year._

_Hayden managed to set the Christmas tree on fire with her accidental magic (or matches I'm not entirely sure (oh, matches are little sticks you can light easily by the way)) which was very funny._

_I woke up this morning to find myself already in a DRESS which my mother put me in while I was asleep. Of course, then she tries to act as if she hasn't done anything (like I would willingly dress myself in a pink monstrosity) and, the nerve of her, tries to make me sing some stupid carol for her. Of course, I sang our version which quite shut her up, and also got me grounded for the last week (she didn't want to ground me on Christmas). Ah well._

_Hayden and I kept hiding her glasses in different places but Hayden's really bad at lying to her and then when she found out Hayden of course dragged me under the bus with her. It was worth it to hear her asking how her glasses had got inside the egg box though._

_I've got to go; Mum says I'm not allowed letters until I go back to school so don't bother replying to this._

_Sam_

He pulled open Jayna's as he lay down on his bed, mentally composing a reply even as he read.

_Dear Potter,_

_I've already been informed repeatedly that my handwriting is terrible don't worry. However, I see no reason to change it seeing as no-one can copy my notes then. How was Christmas at the Weasley's? Is it snowing there? The whole bloody grounds are covered with it here- the snow blocked up the main entrance so I can't go outside. Possibly tomorrow when the caretaker finishes melting it all I'll make a snowman or something._

_You're probably wondering why I haven't mentioned your present and that is because I am pretending it doesn't exist. I opened it in front of RILEY SKEETER you complete ARSEHOLE now the whole school will be buzzing over the fact that someone bought JAYNA BLACKWOOD fucking LINGERIE! What in Merlin's name POSSESSED you to give me that?!_

_(Yes ok it was absolutely hilarious to see Skeeter's face but that is not the point.)_

_If you make a single reference to it when you come back from the holidays I will CASTRATE you._

_In other news, I once again trounced Scorpius at chess. I'm also going to the Slug's party with him tonight (please rescue me) and I might just drink the Draught of Living Death I know he has stored somewhere. CELESTINA WARBECK is playing for us. She's in her FIFTIES. I AM GOING TO DIE. It's probably your fault for some reason so I hope you feel guilty._

_Any other letters you receive from me will most probably be from the afterlife._

_Merry fucking Christmas,_

_Blackwood_


	35. Christmas; Part Five

There was one undisputable rule in Lydjah's house; and that was never, ever bring anything even remotely resembling a butterfly near Sophia as she was unbelievably terrified of them. Unfortunately for Lydjah, part of her family seemed to have completely forgotten this rule which is why Lydjah's Christmas became unbelievably painful.

It was already pretty stressful; her cousin Tristan had started to lament about being unable to play Quidditch anymore (he was a Beater on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team during his time at Hogwarts and became Quidditch Captain during his final year) to Sophia who had tried to check his temperature. Then Fern had asked if Lydjah liked Charms (her Auntie's favourite subject) just as Sophia had taken their plates from them which had resulted in Lydjah elbowing her Auntie and explaining (lying) that Charms was the short for the etiquette classes they took once a month. Lydjah was so glad Jayna had complained in detail about the etiquette classes of her childhood last year as her Mum plagued her with questions. Richard, her Auntie's boyfriend, had then tried to wash the dishes by magic as Sophia had walked in and Richard had been left pretending to stretch to hide the plates.

In later years Lydjah liked to start the story by the sending off of her Christmas gifts and the letters she received in return during the brief respite she had while hiding from her family.

_Lydjah,_

_Did I mention that I was in love with you? These earrings are amazing! Merlin we know each other well. I had no idea you could make books into earrings! It's prefect- I can just carry my books around on my ears! Well these two anyway. The biography of Harry Potter will be very useful to reference and to shut Potter up. And Clockwork Angel- on my ear! Ahh it's amazing._

_I'm sorry I haven't written to you since you left but I've been rather caught up trying to hide from Slughorn. He tracked me down eventually though and I've been forced to go to his ridiculous Christmas party tonight. At least Scorp will be there._

_Anyway, how's hiding your magic from Sophia going? I think last year was a record with what, 21 obliviates? Your poor Mum's going to have permanent memory loss if your Dad doesn't tell her soon. I was thinking me and you should devise a load of spells so that we can prove to her it's true in the Easter break. If not we'll just gang up on your Dad in the summer._

_I have another piece of interesting news (which I will save for your possibly angry reply asking what the news is). You'll never guess what Potter got me for Christmas. I mean literally, you will never guess._

_OWL ME BACK,_

_Jay-Jay_

 

_Dawson,_

_Merry Christmas!_

_I've just realised that somehow you know about the map because you mentioned it that day in the Astronomy tower. HOW? Did Sam tell you?_

_Anyway, here's your present. I hope you like it as much as Blackwood will like hers. Has she told you what it is yet? I sent it early just in case._

_I make myself laugh sometimes._

_Potter_

 

_Dawson,_

_Merry Christmas! (The amount of times I have written that in the past hour is wearing off the excitement of it). Are you having fun in Alpra? (I know where you live *evil laugh*). Ooh those stars look quite nice don't they? ****_

_Anyway, I did go to the lengths of buying you a present (sorry in advance by the way because Manchester is literally the worst place to buy presents from if you don't want to get stabbed) even if it is crap._

_I'm going to tell James about my girlfriend when we get back. If you'd like to slip me some Felix Felcis it would be much appreciated._

_Andrews_

 

_Dear Lydjah,_

_How's your holidays going? It feels so good to be using a pen again; bloody hell but quills are impossible to use. Not to mention the ink splatters *shudders*. I've missed electricity so much. TV! The internet! DVDs! PS6!_

_Gosh anyway, Merry Christmas! I hope your present arrives safely; I've never used the owl post before. Scorpius said I could borrow his owl over the holidays because he can use the ones in the Owlery. I don't think he likes his owl much if its poor name is anything to go by; who names an owl Gansey the Third?_

_My arm is tired from writing all these letters now so I'm going to sign off._

_From,_

_Lien_

 

Lydjah answered them all in the order she received them, not quite finishing Lien's letter how she planned to as she heard her Mum coming up the stairs and had to basically throw her owl out the window with the letters.

"Lydjah?" Lydjah turned from her window with a bright smile on her face.

"Yeah?"

"Edie, Shaun, Alfie and Evie have arrived." Lydjah grinned and ran down the stairs, throwing open the door. Alfie and Evie were in Hogwarts with them though she didn't see them that much; Alfie was two years older and in Gryffindor, and Evie, while in their year, was a Slytherin. Jayna had found it ironically hilarious that no-one in Lydjah's family cared what house you were in, whereas in most people's being a Slytherin would either be the only option or the exact opposite of what you'd want.

Her Auntie, Uncle and cousins started to greet her but she cut them off.

"She still doesn't know." The four of them let out a large sigh and Edie's eyes narrowed at Alen who she could see behind Lydjah.

"Hi guys!" Her Mum announced her presence to the room and immediately everyone adopted happy expressions again. "Lydjah aren't you going to let them in?"

"Yes I was just saying hi." Lydjah stepped out of the way and let her family into the house. Lydjah got continually more and more pissed off the longer she spent at home having to hide this huge part of herself from her Mum.

Christmas was the worst though. Her mother's parents were both muggles, and so were both their daughters. Her mother's sister Edie had married a wizard called Shaun, who had told her about his magic once they had got married, and had two children who were also magical. As Sophia and Alen had never got married (although Sophia had changed her last name) Alen wasn't allowed to tell her about his magic unless they had a child. When Lydjah had come along, Alen had decided to wait and see if she showed any display of magic before telling Sophia. Lydjah was such a late developer with her magical skills (she joked that she managed to procrastinate everything) that Alen had gotten used to keeping certain parts of his life secret, and kept putting off telling her.

Sophia's sister, being a muggle herself, wasn't allowed to tell Sophia about Alen or even her own kids and husband. And Shaun, being married to Edie and not Sophia, couldn't tell her either. Lydjah could, but she doubted her mother would believe her, and even if she did, her Dad might just obliviate the memory anyway. His job as an Obliviator meant he was very good at removing unwanted memories without causing her to lose anything more than the exact moment of magic.

And then there was her Dad's side of the family. Lydjah's Grandfather was a muggle but her Grandmother had been a witch. Alen and his sister Fern both ended up magical, and Fern married magical as well, to her Uncle Ned, and after his death she'd got with Richard who was also magical. Her two kids (by Ned not Richard); Tristan and Skye, therefore were also both magical. Tristan was engaged to yet another magical person; Storm.

Sophia's parents (Andy and Emily) and Sophia herself were the only people that didn't know about the magic. According to magical law Andy and Emily would never know, but everyone except from Alen was desperately hoping that Sophia would find out, and soon.

Fern took two steps into the kitchen and took off her jumper complaining of the heat in the kitchen as she came over to say greetings, giving Sophia the first view of Fern's butterfly tattoo. For a second she stood paralysed and then she managed a weak smile, realising it was only a tattoo, and, as long as it was just a tattoo, it was quite pretty.

Unfortunately for Lydjah, it wasn't just a tattoo at all. It was a magical tattoo, which moved just as magical photos did. Out of the corner of her eye Sophia saw the wings shudder and then, to her absolute horror, flutter just like a real butterfly. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed, right on top of her defenceless daughter, who's chin hit the counter in front of her as her mother pulled her down and then smashed her nose into the stone floor, her mother's fall completely cushioned by her daughter.

Dylan, her dog, wandered over to her and nuzzled her cheek with his wet nose. Lydjah let out a pained chuckle and lost consciousness.


	36. Christmas; Part Six

Jayna didn't mind Professor Slughorn. Sure, he was a little overbearing and, because she was trying to be a little more empathetic, she understood the concept of it being irritating if you weren't one of his favourites but that was really as far as her annoyance stretched, seeing as she was loved by almost all the teachers (even if they didn't play such obvious favourites) and his favouritism guaranteed her an interview with whoever she wanted to speak to when she was considering job options. However, Jayna could not stand his parties.

She would have preferred to have been re-reading the letters that she'd received that morning. She knew most of them by heart by now though having nothing else to do that day, and she ran them over in her hand as she and Scorpius strolled down from the Slytherin Common-Room entrance to the dungeon that Slughorn was hosting his party in.

_Jay-Jay,_

_I'm glad that you like the earrings because I love this book as well as that amazing pillow you got me. Now I can snog Will Herondale's face whenever I like *sighs*. I can't believe you wrote this! It's hilarious._

_What are you wearing to the party? You can suck it up; free music, free food and free alcohol (if you're sneaky enough to get it) there is literally nothing else you could want._

_Hiding magic from my Mum should be a full-time occupation with all my bloody family around. Your plan sounds like a good one (as they usually do)- we should start working on it when I get back._

_OWL ME BACK,_

_Lydjah_

_PS. Aren't you impressed I haven't mentioned the news?_

_PPS. WHAT THE FUCK IS THE NEWS?_

_PPPS. Potter mentioned it too._

_Blackwood,_

_Merry Christmas! Thanks for the sugar quills- how did you know they were my favourite? Please don't say your crazy best friend had a vision of me eating them with my girlfriend or something._

_Ah yes, girlfriend- I'm telling James when we get back. Merlin's bloody flip-flops. (He wore flip-flops. Deal with it.)_

_I hope you like your present. I would like to state that I had absolutely no input into what James bought you though I really wish I could have seen your face._

_Andrews_

_To Jayna,_

_Happy Christmas! Thank you for the chocolate; it's gorgeous; you have to let me know where you got it._

_How is Christmas at Hogwarts? I think I'm going to spend next year there; you have to do it once I think._

_Can you come up with any Christmas traditions we Purebloods do? Sorry if this is a bit of a random question, it's for a friend. I'm very proud of remembering to attach your present to this._

_From,_

_Molly_

_Blackwood,_

_Thank you for the Blood Pops and the note. I'm glad you saw that James was lying about me liking them, and I'm even gladder to inform you that your plan worked and he is now unable to open his mouth on account of his tongue being three times thicker and bright purple. It may have just made my Christmas morning so thanks for that too. He has no idea it was the Blood Pop he stole, and even if he does he won't ask because that would involve owning up to stealing one._

_I think I need more Ravenclaw friends._

_I hope you like your present in return as much as I enjoyed yours._

_Potter (the non-twat one)_

_Blackwood,_

_First of all; hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha oh my Merlin I am pissing myself please stop making me laugh so much._

_Secondly; your handwriting is fucking terrible (please make it better otherwise I am going to fail my OWLs)._

_Thirdly; Christmas there was pretty amazing; we got into a huge snow/gravy fight. I guess that answers your second question too. I wouldn't hold out hope of Filch doing anything quickly sorry mate._

_Fourthly (that's right I can count); oh my god no I'm laughing too much to answer. Right. Well I can safely say that I was not possessed because which possessed person would remember to install a camera which would snap a picture when they opened the present?_

_Fifthly; I've just realised I shouldn't have told you that because now you're probably going to delete the photo but I can't be bothered to re-write the letter so please just don't until I at least get to see it once. Please?_

_Sixthly; I should've got it to do two photos and got one of Skeeter too._

_Seventhly; what does castrate mean? I assume it's unpleasant so I'll keep the present between me, you, Sam, Lydjah, Skeeter and therefore the entire school. ;)_

_Eighthly; I am glad you trounced Scorpius at chess but distraught at the idea of my damsel running off with another man._

_Ninthly; I'm a bit worried that that last point is going to leave me with no limbs or something because that seems like something you'd do._

_Tenthly; YOU ASKED ME TO RESCUE YOU YES I AM OFF THE HOOK FROM THE DAMSEL THING._

_Eleventhly (it's a goddam word anti-bad-spelling quill); don't die how else am I going to pass my OWLs you idiot you've got to think of other people here._

_Twelthly (again, it's a word); actually I give you full permission to drink that potion if it's either that or listen to Celestina Warbeck. Did I mention how glad I am that I'm not you right now?_

_Thirteenthly (IT'S A WORD); HOW IS IT MY FAULT?_

_Fourteenthly (IT'S A FUCKING WORD); I am rather disturbed at the image of your saintly self haunting me._

_FINALLY; Merry Christmas to you too mate._

_See you in January,_

_Potter_

 

Despite her friends' letters cheering her up her good mood quickly vanished when she entered the party. Celestina Warbeck was already playing when they arrived, which they both made a face at, but they were relieved to learn that she'd only be singing for part of the night and after that they'd just put on a random soundtrack. Professor Slughorn was making the rounds so they decided it would probably be best to say hello to him first and then he wouldn't interrupt their conversation later. The only other people who came to speak to her and Scorpius were Purebloods like them or people expressing their apologies over her family's deaths (which were usually one and the same anyway). So, instead of socialising, Jayna and Scorpius had agreed to give their presents to each other at the party for something to do. Jayna also snagged Scorpius some Butterbeer as they sat in one of the more secluded areas that was thankfully not occupied by snogging couples.

"Merry Christmas." Scorpius scowled. He hadn't forgiven her for beating him in ten moves at chess earlier. Jayna honestly wasn't good at chess; Scorpius was just appalling. She passed over his present and his irritation faded as he opened it. It was a watercolour set with every colour Scorpius could ever ask for.

There were very few people who knew of Scorpius' amazing artistic abilities. Not even Albus knew, or his parents. He knew they wouldn't encourage it; just like his obsession with motorbikes, and had often told them he was studying for his French when really he was sketching. There was a cherry tree in their garden, hidden away in the middle of the orchard that Scorpius was almost sure his parents had forgotten they owned, and when Scorpius had grown too big to climb it he had begun drawing under it instead. Jayna was one of the only people who knew and it was only because she'd followed him when he sneaked out of the Social at his house and had seen him drawing. In return for telling her his secret, she'd mailed him the pages of the first proper book she'd written and his encouragement had set her writing whenever she had free time. She'd begged for a few of his sketches but the most he would send her was doodles.

He grinned happily at her. "Thank you." He didn't hug her; he wasn't a hugging person, but he did offer her one of his very few genuine smiles where both corners of his mouth turned up. He handed her his present. She started to open it but he stopped her.

"Wait, just… I'm sorry if this upsets you." Jayna frowned quizzically at him and gently opened the package (she never ripped presents unless she couldn't get them open) and pulled it out.

She stared down at the most lifelike scene she had ever seen painted, complete with colour on proper framed canvas. The ballroom in her home-that-used-to-exist looked up at her, covered in the most extravagant decorations just as she remembered it, this time last year at the Social they had hosted. The whole room was white; white walls and a shining, slippery white marble floor. Their floor-to-ceiling Christmas tree was covered in twinkling fairy lights in millions of different colours. Tables drew a space in the middle where on the left a band was playing live music. The tables themselves were covered in white sparkling table cloths that the house-elves had washed by hand, and were completed with a vase of pearl roses that were known for having no scent (her mother was allergic).

Jayna had thought before the guests had arrived that the whole room looked rather dead, excluding the Christmas tree of course, but as soon as the first couple had strolled down the glass spiral staircase (one of the only things that had survived the fire) she'd realised her mother had designed it perfectly. It was the people who brought it to life, the people twirling and laughing and sipping drinks with their friends. Sure, it was done in the most polite and sophisticated way possible; all the dances were structured and mostly slow and the conversation was dull and heavy with politics but it worked beautifully.

Then, in-between the detailed but generic and unrecognisable (just as she wanted it) faces of the other spinning couples, Jayna saw the main focus of the painting. She studied herself first, her beautiful strapless blue dress that her mother had finally allowed her to wear, as it floated down to her knees and left her freckled shoulders on display, and the gold wedges that had made her feel as tall as her father. The way her hair had gold stripes where the light fell and the way it whirled around her head when she slowly span. Her mouth, curled into the hugest smile that she was uncertain she could still do. Her eyes, for once visible as they shone greener than the Christmas tree she was in front of, and looked down at the young boy who was holding her hands.

She blinked at him, and it hit her like a ton of bricks that she wouldn't have been able to remember him this vividly without a photograph. He stood at little higher than her knees, his arms stretching up to hold onto hers, his hands only just big enough to hold hers properly. He was stood on her feet as she spun them round, his polished black shoes that already had splatters of mud on them from who-knows-where but it was Devin and mud and him seemed to be permanently attracted to each other. His black jacket had been abandoned long ago but he was still wearing his white shirt even though it was rolled up to his pudgy elbows. His black trousers were a little too big for him which is why Jayna had offered her feet for him to stand on, worried he would trip otherwise.

His eyes were still blue; she'd never know if they would've darkened when he got older, and his hair was still lighter than hers, though darker than his oldest sister's or his brother's. He was a mini copy of her, both of them interchangeable for the other in baby photographs. His nose was wrinkled in the exact same way and his mouth was open in the middle of one of his infectious giggles that Jayna always used to hunt down when she was upset. His smile pushed his chubby cheeks closer towards his tiny ears that his small brown curls curved round. Jayna stroked his painted cheek, wanting nothing more than to be able to pull him close to her, just for a moment.

She finally looked up at Scorpius who was staring at her apprehensively.

"Scorpius." She stopped because her thought process hadn't formed any more than that. "Scorpius. This is the most amazing painting I have ever seen and this is the most beautiful gift anyone has ever given me. Thank you." She smiled and continued to speak in the exact same tone. "I am now going to get piss drunk."

Jayna slipped the painting back into the packaging and put it in the bag that she'd brought Scorpius' present in. She stood up, a little unsteadily, and grabbed a drink from the first waiter who passed her.

"Are you 17-" He was cut off as she drained the entire bottle in one go and then coughed violently. "Miss that wasn't Butterbeer-"

"I know. Can I have another?" He looked unsure and she snarled at him. "My name is Jayna Ivonne Blackwood and so help me if you don't give me another drink right now-" Scorpius had finally got over his shock and grabbed hold of her arm.

"Jayna I'm sorry for giving you the painting-" She looked at him blankly.

"Why are you sorry? That's the best thing you could've given me."

"Why are you suddenly deciding to get drunk despite despising alcohol for your entire life then?"

"Because it fucking hurts Scorpius. It fucking hurts that I'm here when I should be at one of those Merlin-awful socials complaining that Aleron's going to be taller than me when he grows up and Devin's stabbed his new wand into my eye, again. It fucking hurts that my sister won't even look at me," She pointed to Cara who was stood at the side of the dance-floor talking to Mr Belby. "And I've been informed that despite its disgusting taste alcohol makes you feel numb just for a few hours-"

"Yeah, before you wake up with a pounding headache and the urge to puke. Don't do that to yourself Jayna." She blinked at him and then started to laugh as tears fell down her cheeks and sobs heaved from her chest. Scorpius passed his drink to the waiter who stumbled off and pulled Jayna to him. She sobbed onto his shoulder, despite him being five inches shorter than her (she'd been awarded an extra inch by her heels), her legs not doing the best job of keeping her up and the alcohol she'd just consumed rushing to her head.

He sat her back down on the chair she'd just vacated and scooted his own closer. He held her hand as she reeled in her shuddering laughs. Several times other people tried to see if she was alright (Jayna did not cry quietly) but Scorpius shooed them away. When she was done crying and just sat trembling he brandished his wand at her face and removed the tear tracks. Luckily she didn't have any mascara runs seeing as she didn't often wear make-up. She thanked him and he nodded. "Sorry for breaking down on you." He shrugged.

"Trust you to not cry for months and then break down in a room full of celebrities." She giggled. Then her face lit up as the next song came on.

"Is that-"

"The Bent-Winged Snitches! Come on, come on!" She grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the dance-floor, thankful that he was skinnier than a stick as well as being shorter than her. He finally gave up and allowed her to drag him around the dance-floor which she refused to leave until the end of the night.


	37. Christmas; Part Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So we finally find out what Draco put in that letter he gave to Scorpius on the first day. I don't personally ship Dramione but it's a bit of a tip of a hat to my sister who definitely does

Scorpius was more than a little bemused by the night's events as he lay down on his bed in his empty dormitory. He hated dancing but Jayna always had so much enthusiasm for it even if she couldn't dance very fluidly. He found himself laughing at her flailing arms and was very glad he'd managed to convince her to leave the alcohol alone. She was probably a little tipsy from the Firewhisky she'd drained in one go but Scorpius had persuaded her to eat enough to settle the alcohol in her stomach.

He used to look forward to the Socials because it was the only time he saw her without their parents watching their every move. He'd had a crush on her when he was five and they'd both promised that they would get married when they were adults, much to the amusement of their older selves. His passing crush hadn't been the reason he liked seeing her though; she was a pretty great friend when she wanted to be and she'd helped him throw off Goyle's stalkerish tendencies by freaking him out with her much-too-large intellect.

He heard a knock on his door and frowned. It was late; the only people who were up were people that were at Slughorn's party. To be fair, there were a lot of Slytherins who'd gone. He weighed up the merits of pretending to be asleep before sighing.

"Come in!" Cara Blackwood stepped into his dormitory and it was only his eleven years of etiquette classes that stopped him from sighing aloud. Why couldn't the sisters sort out their own problems? They were old enough now. "Hi Blackwood."

"Malfoy." She acknowledged, twisting her hands around. Scorpius raised an eyebrow as he sat up, waiting for her to continue. "Is my sister ok-"

"Blackwood, no offense, but why are you asking me?"

"You're closer?" She tried to joke. It fell flat. "I don't know Malfoy. I just don't agree with all those people she's hanging around-"

"Blackwood, she's not going to change who she hangs out with just because you ask her to. But I do know it's hurting her, a lot, that you can't just accept it. She's not trying to change your views is she? She still loves you even if she doesn't agree with you. I know for a fact she bought you a birthday present and you both got each other Christmas presents. That doesn't seem like the act of someone who doesn't care about you anymore." Cara blinked, the words very close to what Willow had said the day before.

"I-"

"Think about it Blackwood and in the meantime let me sleep." Cara let out a tired chuckle and gave him a small smile as she left his room. Scorpius shook his head and changed into his pyjamas, extremely glad to get out of his posh clothes.

Scorpius, however, could not fall asleep. He hadn't stayed at Hogwarts for Jayna or to see Hogwarts at Christmas time. He'd stayed because he didn't want to go home to his huge empty house where he'd be given more presents than he could count and the customary politeness that all his family expressed towards him. His father occasionally would drop the act, he knew, for mere seconds at a time when his mother and grandparents weren't looking; just long enough to give him a hug or ask how he was settling in, but these moments were few and far between. He loved his mother and father, he really did, and always wanted to impress them and make them proud. But seeing how the other non-Pureblood-supremacy families had acted that day on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, Scorpius had thought that maybe the Purebloods kept up these views just so they could distance themselves from their own families.

He thought about the letter his father had given him. It was hidden in the bottom of his trunk. Sighing, he rolled out of bed and dug it out, reading it again.

There was a note attached to the top that said simply; _I never sent this._

_Dear Hermione,_

_It's been many years since we've spoken. I wanted to congratulate you on your promotion to the Deputy-Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and I have no doubt that you deserved it. I'm also aware that you married Weasley, and you've had two children. I hope they're all well._

_I also wanted to wish you Happy Birthday as I'm aware that it is today._

_The main reason of this letter, however, is to apologise for my teenage self. Not only did I join the side of the people who wished only to hunt you down and kill you, I also made an effort to ruin your life at Hogwarts too. I'm sorry I didn't protect you better when the three of you turned up at my house, I was too shocked and too scared and I know you now have scars from my Auntie's insane torturing. I could hear you screaming and it did nothing but terrify me. I will forever be sorrowful for not rushing to your aid._

_I know I have only the slightest chance in Hell of you believing this to be the truth, and I know I don't deserve your belief, let alone your forgiveness, but I wanted to wish you all the best and reiterate that I am so happy you've found a man who's worthy of your affections. I hardly think it likely that we will speak again, so this is my final goodbye._

_You deserve all the happiness this world has to offer,_

_Yours Faithfully,_

_Draco Malfoy_

 

Scorpius had used up countless pieces of parchment demanding an explanation as to why Draco had turned his world upside-down with this letter but he had yet to send a single one. Everything he thought he knew was unravelling before his very eyes. He found himself seeing weakness, not strength, in the people that still used 'Mudblood'. He was best friends with a Potter for Merlin's sake! He hung out once a week in a study group that was entirely made up of blood-traitors and Mudbloods. And he could no longer deny, at least to himself, the fluttering in his stomach and the speed of his heart-rate when he saw Rose.

He wished, for the first time, that he wasn't a snobbish Pureblood. He could imagine his life as a Muggleborn; being able to draw whenever he wished, concerned letters from his anxious parents, friends that he knew he was equal to, and a life that was governed solely by himself and not his Pureblood childhood.

He put the letter away again and tucked his covers up to his chin, watching the giant squid's tentacle squirm past the window and wondering if perhaps he should wish to be the squid instead.


	38. Christmas; Part Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last but not least

The letters that Sam had sent out had been almost all short. The one she'd sent to James she knew she couldn't get away with being short but the idea of the Christmas that she'd sent him hadn't been completely truthful. The things she said happened did take place (she was still wearing the bloody dress for Merlin's sake) but Christmas had been a lot more subdued than she'd made out.

Billy, her Dad, although she'd always called her parents by their first names, had called from the airport saying he'd got an emergency message and he had to go back out. Sam had been the one to pick up the phone because it was five in the morning and only Sam was awake that early, even on Christmas day. She understood of course, and the fact that Billy was fighting to keep other people safe made her very proud, but for once she wanted to be selfish. The innocent people dying in wars that should be fought by the politicians that made them could survive one day without her Dad couldn't they? Just Christmas Day, just so Hayden could cut his hair and Alex could kiss his scars away and Sam could be sure he was still alive.

But she couldn't deny those poor people help for longer than a second, even in her own mind, and so she'd wished Billy Merry Christmas and agreed to pass on his love to the rest of the family and made sure she'd hung up the phone before she started to cry. Hayden had woken up and rushed to her sister's side, already understanding without Sam needing to speak. She'd punched her older sister's shoulder and pulled her into the kitchen. Sam had nodded and they'd both made breakfast for Alex in a companionable silence. Their mother had thanked them profusely and Sam had told her about Billy and Alex's whole uplifted demeanour had vanished, just as Sam had thought it would.

Sam had volunteered to put a dress on which brightened her mother's mood considerably (so she had lied to James slightly) and Alex had brought out the most ridiculous dress she could find, knowing it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Sam had tried to draw the line at the carol singing (which is why she'd sang the more interesting lyrics and subsequently been grounded) and Hayden and she had hidden her Mum's glasses wherever they felt like it.

Then they'd turned on the TV which was mistake because the news was on with footage of the war that Billy was fighting in. Alex had squeezed Sam's hand tighter than her daughter would've liked and Hayden's anger at the injustice in front of her had set the Christmas tree on fire.

Hayden had gotten her Hogwarts letter on her birthday in September just like Sam knew she would. Hogwarts was both a good and a bad thing; it limited their contact with Billy even more but it would stop all the fights that Hayden constantly got into at school, just like her sister had before her, or at least turn them from fistfights into duels. Hayden had been glad these last two years that Sam was no longer in school with her because it stopped Sam trying to rush to Hayden's defence every two seconds, when Hayden could handle it herself thank you very much, but she'd missed her older sister's antics. She'd met James Potter last year when he'd turned up in her fireplace during the Easter Holidays, and learnt that Sam's antics had only got more impressive, but Hayden and James had got off on the wrong foot when she'd hit him over the head with a fire extinguisher, thinking he was a burglar.

By the end of the holiday though they'd become friends of a sort, much to Sam's secret delight. As Sam coated the Christmas tree in white foam from the extinguisher she couldn't help but remember James' idiotic face as he'd laid, unconscious and dribbling into her carpet, which had made her laugh for the first time that day.

Christmas dinner hadn't amounted to much; turkey sandwiches and sponge cake for pudding, but the three of them hadn't minded because at least most of their family was there.

Hayden sat next to her sister, her white-blonde hair only different because of the bright-red tips that she was very proud of that had got her seven detentions. Her mother had threatened to cut it but couldn't bring herself to, especially as she knew Hayden could do a better job anyway. Their physical similarities stopped at the hair though; Hayden was tiny (not that Sam was particularly tall) with dark brown eyes and a scar that cut across her lip from a particularly nasty fight she'd had last year. They wore the same style of clothing though; both tom-boys and proud of it, and were both reckless and quick-thinking.

It was a running joke in their family that Sam and Hayden had actually been swapped for fairy children because neither Alex nor Billy had light hair; Alex's was dark auburn and Billy's was chocolate brown. Hayden had inherited Billy's eyes though but no-one knew where Sam's had come from seeing as Alex's were pale green. Alex blamed all their recklessness on her husband but Sam and Hayden knew their mother had been just like them in her youth, which is why she tried so hard to make them girly though she knew it was a lost cause.

"Hey Alex?"

"Yes Sam?"

"Erm, I have something to tell you."

"Oh?"

"And Hayden too I suppose."

"Get on with it you loon." Hayden snorted. Sam rolled her eyes.

"Well I'm going with out with someone." Hayden raised her eyes to the celling.

"Really? That was your big news?" Sam ignored her.

"And _her_ name is Lee Wright." There was a second of stunned silence.

"A girl? Really? Ew I hate girls." Sam burst out laughing knowing Hayden didn't have a problem with her sexuality; it was just her hate of other girls.

"Honestly Lee's nothing like Alex." Sam reassured her. She turned to Alex and waited for her Mum to breathe again.

"So you like girls?" Alex eventually managed.

"And boys." Sam shrugged. "It kind of depends on my mood." She looked severely uncomfortable as Alex stared her down, but not for the reason you might think. The three of them had always been close (close enough that Billy often moaned about being left out when he came home) and she knew her Mum's glare had everything to do with it. "Alex, I only worked it out myself in September and I didn't start going out with Lee until November." Her Mum nodded, slightly pacified.

"It's completely fine by me Sam as long as you don't do anything stupid like get married without telling me-"

"Alex! I'm thirteen!"

"Well how am I supposed to know when witches can get married?" Alex retorted. Sam rolled her eyes again, inwardly coursing with relief. "If you're coming over for Easter you should invite her round. Which house is she in?"

"Ravenclaw." Hayden wrinkled her nose.

"The one with all the nerds?" Sam laughed.

"That's what I thought too but I'm friends with a few of them now- the one that gave me that small mountain of sugar quills is a Ravenclaw for example- and she's a complete nerd but she's alright honestly. And besides, she has good taste in sweets and I can always copy her homework it's great." Alex gave her daughter a disapproving look as Hayden laughed. "But Lee's not a nerd she's just very good at coming up with ideas."

"What does she look like?" Sam rolled her eyes again.

"Alex I'll invite her round for Easter ok? Then you can see her."

"Don't you have any photos?" Sam shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, no-one knows we're going out you see. I plan on telling everyone when we come back, but you're the first people to know who I'm going out with." _Except maybe Lydjah_ Sam added in her head _Depending on who her vision was of_. Alex grinned and pulled her daughter into a hug much to said daughter's dismay and her other daughter's amusement.

"I love you Sam." Her reply was quiet but it was there.

"I love you too."


	39. Of Returning to School and the Start of Something (New) Important

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couldn't resist the reference  
> Also James' list is stupid but I mean. I'm trying to write a teenage boy accurately ok  
> And what Jayna does to Rory is mean but again, people age 12 aren't the best empathisers

The first day back in school after the Christmas holidays is usually quite depressing, even for Ravenclaws, but for the eight people that this story concerns, this was, for once, untrue. James was glad to be back with Sam and loved how the grounds looked in the snow. He was happy to be away from Lily's glares and his mother's suspicious eyes, even if he did miss them terribly (not that he'd tell anyone that).

Sam was rather nervous about letting the school know about her and Lee but the people she'd told so far had all reacted fine. She wanted to tell James before Lee came in for breakfast though so she pulled him out of the Great Hall, passing Lydjah and Jayna on their way out.

"Come on James."

"Why- Oh hey Blackwood, Dawson."

"Hey." They chorused. Sam severely regretted letting them know as they walked away giving her thumbs-up behind James' back.

Lydjah was happy to be back so she could properly recount her holidays to Jayna, and laugh over James' atrocious present.

"He honestly bought you a _thong_?"

"And a ridiculously small-covering bra! He guessed my _bra size_ Lydjah!"

"Did he get it right?"

"Yes! That's the Merlin-cursed problem! I mean I know he saw me in one in September but that was for like a second. How did he guess correctly?" Lydjah couldn't help it, she burst out laughing.

"Are you going to give him the photo?"

"I might. It's pretty funny actually; I'm redder than a tomato." Jayna was glad Lydjah was back but she missed spending all her time with Scorpius. She supposed she would have to arrange to meet up with him sometime. It was his birthday next week after all, two days after hers.

Lien waved from across the Hall as the Ravenclaws sat down and they waved back. Lien was depressed about going back to lessons but she had Charms first so at least she wasn't starting with History of Magic like poor Sam and James.

Molly, next to her, was missing her family terribly but at good portion of them came back with her, and besides she'd missed her other friends. As they passed Albus and Scorpius, Lien did a double take.

"Are those Kettle Crisps?" Lien asked, pointing at Albus' crisps. Albus was more than a little annoyed to be going back to lessons but he wasn't sure he could stand the tension between James and himself for a single day longer in his house. Scorpius was already missing the ease of being able to do nothing but draw, but his dormitory had been lonely with no-one else there.

"Yeah my Dad bought me them one time and I got addicted. I always buy more when I go home." Molly laughed. Quicker than Albus could follow, Lien's hand darted into the crisp packet and came back out with several crisps which she popped into her mouth before he could protest. She winked at him and Albus raised his eyebrows, impressed.

 

"What did you drag me out here for?" James whined.

"I'm trying to tell you what I've been hiding from you if you'll just shut up for a second!" Sam snapped. He shut up. "I'm going out with Lee."

"Lee who?" He frowned. He didn't know a boy in their year called Lee, unless he was in a different year he supposed.

"Lee Wright." His expression cleared.

"As in, the buzz-cut bitch?" Sam sniggered as if she couldn't help it.

"The 'buzz-cut bitch'? Oh my Merlin she'll love that."

"You're not having me on?"

"No I'm not. I'm bisexual and I have a girlfriend." To her horror he looked pissed off.

"Why the Hell didn't you tell me earlier?" Sam blinked. "You could've helped me write that fit-list last year!" The two of them burst into laughter and James punched Sam in the shoulder. "You dumb ass- you thought I was going to have a problem with this? Wait- damn it Sam you're going to steal all my Potentials!" 'Potentials' were the names of the girls that James considered worthy to go out with him. Sam was at the top of the list because she was the girl James liked the most even if he had absolutely no intention of ever going out with her.

Sam despised the list (mostly because she disagreed with most of the names on there but also because she deemed it to be having a negative effect on how guys viewed girls and although she knew James had written it only in jest it still wasn't helping).

"Just because _I'm_ bi doesn't mean all of _them_ will be." James brightened up at this truth and Sam rolled her eyes. "Now, Lee's going to come in and sit next to me ok?" James nodded and they re-entered the Great Hall, just getting to their seats (across from each other) when Lee walked in. Sam indicated her presence by a raise of her eyebrows and Lee sat down next to her. James was glad Sam hadn't suddenly turned into one of those girls that are completely normal until they're part of a couple when suddenly they're ridiculously ditzy.

James was about to greet Lee when she turned to Sam and kissed her far too passionately for James' innocent eyes. He felt a little bit sick watching his best friend get thoroughly snogged so promptly looked away and caught Jayna's eye. Jayna didn't look surprised in the slightest (James assumed Lee had told her (which of course we know is untrue, not that James found out for a while)) but she was making a face of disgust (comical because she was trying, and failing, to stick her tongue out) which made James spit out his pumpkin juice into Ned's face. Ned had been slowly pouring his own juice onto his lap in his surprise (him and Sam had dated briefly last year) but snapped out of it when he was splattered with a mixture of orange-coloured juice and spit.

Sam and Lee also stopped, to James' relief, in order to see what on earth had happened. Deciding it wasn't interesting enough Sam had taken in the look of horror on James' face with a smirk.

"You could've warned me!"

"That was for a year of idiotic girlfriends that addled your brain." She retorted. She turned back to her girlfriend. "Good morning." Lee quirked an eyebrow.

"Morning." She turned to James. "Morning to you too."

"As long as you don't greet me in the same way you just did with Sam I think we'll get along fine." Lee smirked.

"It's a deal."

Jayna walked out of Defence Against the Dark Arts grinning happily as she always did when she understood a topic that was covered in class. Lydjah watched her bemusedly as she nattered on about pixies.

"Lydjah?" There was a timid voice from behind her. Lydjah turned to see Rory behind her and sighed internally, wishing she'd taken Arnold's offer of 'going out' again.

"Yes Rory?" Jayna, who'd wandered a little way, still believing Lydjah to be next to her came back and stood by her shoulder, doing her best to smile non-pityingly at Rory.

"Would you like to go out with me?" There was a beat where Lydjah started to form the polite way to turn him down in her head and Jayna burst out laughing. She held on to Lydjah's shoulder for support, tears running down her cheeks as she tried to draw in air. James came over, glad for the distraction from Sam and Lee's 'goodbye'.

Rory turned bright red and spun away before Lydjah could do much more than open her mouth. She spun round to glare at Jayna who staggered into James as her support left her. James steadied her but she couldn't stop laughing. She turned round to thank him only to realise who it was and go bright red herself. Luckily she was saved from embarrassment by Lydjah.

"What the hell Jayna? He was just being nice." But she was fighting a smile.

"Sorry bitch." Jayna said pleasantly.

"I hate you hoe." Lydjah giggled. James watched in confusion as the two Ravenclaws burst into laughter again. "Did you see his face-"

"Oh my Merlin!" Jayna gasped. James shook his head, once again thinking; Bloody Ravenclaw girls.

 

Jayna already knew tonight's sleep was going to be a bad one. It was her first night since the kidnapping that she wasn't taking dreamless sleep potion (discounting the night of her first Astronomy lesson when she hadn't slept anyway). Madam Longbottom had warned her that she was likely to have vivid nightmares, but Jayna had assumed, wrongly, that they would be about the kidnapping. Instead Jayna was thrown back into her own memories to the start of the darkest night of her life.

_Jayna absently drew the blankets over her, a little shocked that Lydjah had curled so closely to her side in her sleep. It wasn't that Jayna minded exactly, only that no-one had hugged her this tightly (even unconsciously) since Cara had been afraid of sleeping on her own. When her mother and father had finally given in and allowed Cara to move her bed down into Jayna's room the actual bed-space sharing had stopped. She was glad that in Hogwarts you shared dorms with other people- she couldn't sleep anymore without hearing another person breathing (the two years when Cara was at Hogwarts but she wasn't had been awful; she'd ended up sneaking in to her brothers' room most nights)._

_She was a little disturbed that Lydjah only slept in blankets when her parents (as she had discovered on Lydjah's quick tour of her house) had a perfectly fine quilt. She reminded herself to bring a quilt next time- and then realised she had already decided there was going to be a next time. She'd been surprised when Lydjah had asked her round for a sleepover before term had ended; the two Ravenclaws had been shoved together in everything, not that either of them minded, but Jayna had assumed Lydjah only sat next to her because of the necessity to appear as if you had friends. Her grandparents hadn't approved when they heard Lydjah's blood status but Jayna couldn't care less at that point; she'd never had a friend before. Of course talking to Sophia had been extremely awkward, not that Lydjah's mother had noticed, because she had very little experience of how to deal with muggles._

_She'd originally come on the sleepover because of her little experience; Jayna hated not knowing something, even if it was something her upbringing said she shouldn't be interested in, but now she wondered if she actually enjoyed Lydjah's company more than she thought. She allowed her mind to wander over the last year and realised there was literally nothing except her own preconceptions that were stopping them from being friends, but it was easier said than done to just let go of them._

_Her thoughts were interrupted as Alen Dawson burst through the door. Lydjah didn't wake but Alen didn't seem surprised to see Jayna was still up, despite the ridiculous hour in the morning._

_"Jayna? I think you should come with me."_

_"What is it? What's happened?" Only now did she start to notice the panic hastily concealed on his face and his I-just-jumped-straight-out-of-bed appearance._

_"It's your family. There's been an accident."_


	40. Of Nightmare-Filled Birthdays and How Inebriation Affects Your Ability To Keep Opinions to Yourself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok first off; posting two chapters in a row as a thank you for the lovely comments I recieved  
> Secondly; under-age drinking is not a good idea but it's only butterbeer that the younger ones are consuming; they're just lightweights. Ya know. Considering they're 12.  
> And just, ouch. Poor Jayna

Albus and Scorpius had been watching the Quidditch match with pained eyes (Slytherin's team was being trounced by Hufflepuff's) and were not at all upset when Lydjah dragged them away from the pitch. Everyone from their group was there, excluding Jayna.

"As you know, it's Jayna's birthday in two days and I want to throw her a proper party, because I don't think she's ever had one before. Will you help?" They'd all agreed, James and Sam going as far to offer their own Common-Room seeing as it would take ages for everyone to get into Ravenclaw's. Lydjah set them all different jobs; James and Sam were in charge of getting drinks ("I don't care where you get it from as long as you don't get caught and you don't do anything illegal."), Molly and Lien were in charge of food ("Seeing as you live right next to the kitchens anyway. Make sure you remember the special cake."), Albus and Scorpius were in charge of decorations ("If I see a single house-themed decoration I will kill you.") and Lydjah was going to make sure Jayna got to the Gryffindor Common-Room at the right time and was also in charge of holding onto their group present.

"Sounds like a plan. How did you get away from Jayna?"

"I didn't; she's not at the match; she's still asleep in her room."

 

_She remembered being Apparated to St Mungos. She remembered assuring Alen she would stay right there while he went off to do his job as an Obliviator- removing the memories off the Muggles who had caused the accident. She remembered asking the closest nurse what had happened and she remembered the nurse's dry response._

_"It's that French Pureblood family, you know, the Blackwoods? Yeah some drunk Muggles threw a couple of fire bombs through the first-floor window and because they all sleep on the top floor… Apparently there are heavy casualties." And she remembered the way the nurse blinked at her after she said it, the drowsiness that had caused her mouth to talk of its own accord suddenly wiped from her eyes. "Aren't you one of them-"_

_She remembered falling onto one of the waiting-room chairs, stumbling over her own feet in horror, the only thing running through her mind being those two words 'heavy casualties'._

_And then, sometime later, she remembered the first stretcher being pulled past her, and the face that no longer looked human because of the red rips and tears in its skin, screaming with her Auntie Noemi's voice. She remembered her mother mentioning how she'd invited her Aunties, Uncles and cousins over because Jayna and Cara would be out of the house so they'd have just enough rooms. Then she saw the words 'out of the house' and knew that one other person was safe; Cara was safe, and she felt so guilty for being glad that it was Cara who was also alive and not anyone else._

_Her Grandfather had been flown past next, his right eye wheeling around in its socket, searching for anything to look at. She saw when it locked on to her, and she saw relief flood it and then when the light in it died she was not surprised to hear the Healer's shouting that his heart had failed. She noted that her Grandfather had been completely silent; not even agony could let him lose his composure, and she strove to do the same, to lock away emotion until she was no longer on display._

_Lydjah had arrived then. She'd stood up and Lydjah had tried to envelop her in a hug but Jayna shrugged it off, grabbing hold of her friend's arms and demanding to know if she could 'see' her family._

_"Please Lydjah. Any of them. Did any of them get out?" And Lydjah had hesitated and for one terrible moment Jayna felt her hope surge up and push past that wall of cold she'd been determined to create. And then slowly, with tears threatening to fall from her eyes, Lydjah had shaken her head._

_"All I see is darkness." Jayna felt her hands let go of Lydjah's pyjama top and let Lydjah's arms crush her to her as her legs collapsed from underneath her and she let out a scream not unlike her Auntie's that ripped through her vocal cords and scarred her heart._

_That was when the first body-bag had arrived._

"It's your BIRTHDAY!" Lydjah shrieked excitedly. Jayna's eyes shot open and she caught Lydjah's worried glance before her friend rearranged her features. Jayna could feel her hands shaking even as she forced a smile onto her face and the dream out of her mind.

"I know dear."

"Come on it's time for breakfast! A little Hufflepuff told me it was pancakes today." Jayna brightened at the thought of pancakes.

"I'm getting there."

Lydjah had been acting weird all day. She was way too excited about everything and had refused to give her a present until 'later'. Cara had given her a photo album filled with recreations of the photos that had been in her house that she'd apparently recieved off their Great-Auntie Vafara. Lee had gotten her some toffee from Hogsmeade which she'd casually chewed all day. It had stumped her that this year she'd only be getting one present from family members.

She hadn't seen the rest of their group anywhere for the entire day. She assumed James had probably snuck into Hogsmeade with Sam but she thought it was weird that no-one else was around. She was trying to remember what she usually did on her birthday, and found herself rather depressed that it was on a Sunday this year because she had nothing to distract herself with. Lydjah insisted she'd already arranged the details for their customary sleepover that night so Jayna hadn't mentioned her birthday to anyone. Last year she'd made that mistake and random people she'd never met kept wishing her Happy Birthday.

Because her birthday was in the middle of January she'd never been able to arrange parties for it that went anywhere near outside. She really wanted to go swimming for some reason but knew she'd get pneumonia if she jumped in the lake now. The snow had turned into sludgy muddy slippy piles that further convinced her that going outside would be a bad idea.

So she just hung out with Lydjah, meandering around the castle until dinner. After she'd eaten, Lydjah all but pulled her arm out of its socket trying to get her to the Gryffindor Common-Room.

"What-" She was cut off as the portrait hole swung open and seven voices screamed at her.

"SURPRISE!" She blinked slowly and then her face had stretched into the huge grin that Scorpius had captured in his painting. The entire Common-Room had been covered in purple and light blue streamers and identically coloured stripy balloons. A table was set up with a load of drinks (thankfully all Butterbeer) and glasses as well as loads of tasty looking snacks. Molly and Lien were holding a cake that was shaped like a giant snitch with bent wings. Jayna kept the frown off her face; why they'd made her a Quidditch cake she didn't know-

"Happy Birthday Jay!" Lydjah pulled a huge wicker basket out of her bag that was filled to the brim with Honeydukes' finest everything, but at least half the basket was dedicated to the No-Melt ice-cream that Jayna was obsessed with. "Undetectable Extension Charm from Seraphina." Lydjah explained, in response to Jayna's questioning look. She took the basket from her and found a letter on the top that read;

_Happy Birthday Jay! We hope you like your presents._

_Lots of wishes and all that,_

_Lydjah x, Sam, James, Molly x, Lien xxx, Albus and Scorpius_

Jayna grinned again, and opened the envelope that the letter was attached too.

To her utter amazement, three tickets to see the Bent-Winged Snitches live during the Easter Holidays fell out onto her palm. She gaped, her mouth opening and closing like a fish.

"B-But… How-" She stared at Lydjah.

"Don't look at me- it was James and Al who made it happen. They have so many connections in the Ministry it took them all of five minutes to get them."

"Thank you!" She launched herself at the Potter boys and pulled them into a hug, Albus first then James (for once it not being awkward at all) before punching Scorpius and Sam in the shoulder (she knew they didn't like hugs) and rushing back to Lydjah to hug her best friend. She waited until Molly and Lien had put down the cake (which she now understood) to hug them too.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" They all laughed at her enthusiasm. She ran over to the cake, lit with thirteen candles, and blew them out with a laugh, making all the candles flicker before they went out. Other random Gryffindors (Lee was also there) applauded. Lien set off the round of 'Hip- hip's which made all the Purebloods, including Jayna, blink in confusion. After the final 'Hooray' James flicked his wand and the Bent-Winged Snitches first album began blasting.

"How did you do that?" Jayna asked excitedly. James couldn't help but laugh at her; he'd never seen her so… Unguarded. Sam interrupted him.

"He's amazing at sound Charms; it's the only thing he's modest about. He made me a variation on a sound Charm that I can activate at any time that plays some sounds from the city on repeat; I can't sleep without it after living in Manchester for eleven years." James blushed as Jayna looked at him; impressed. Then her eyes widened as one of her favourite songs by the band came on and she hardly cared when Sam jokingly cast an amplifying Charm on her throat so the whole Common-Room could hear her singing.

They all took it in turns to sing karaoke after that (except Sam and Scorpius who point-blank refused). Jayna was by far the best, if only because she was the only one who actually knew all the words. By this point more random people had joined the party, not caring whose it was just loving the free alcohol. Molly and Lien kindly cut up the cake and made sure Jayna definitely had a piece before leaving it to the masses.

"No I'm not your stupid snitch, And I hope you fall off your broom!" Lydjah laughed at her friend who was currently attempting to do an air-guitar solo, to which the people who play guitar were cringing at, (Lien and Scorpius) for her seventh song. "Aggressive air-banjo!" She yelled, fully aware that she looked insane. She jumped down from the table that they used as a stage as the song finished and got rid of the amplifying Charm on herself before walking over to the drinks table and grabbing herself her first Butterbeer of the night. She pointed her wand at it.

"What are you doing to that Butterbeer?" James asked from behind her. She jumped and span round.

"Oh, I only like Butterbeer when it's warm so I heated it." She shrugged. James made a face. It was only then that Jayna realised he was completely pissed. To be fair, he had been drinking since the start of the party, several hours ago, but to be drunk on Butterbeer was quite embarrassing.

"Lighten up Blackwood. There's some Firewhisky around here somewhere." He said, wiggling his eyebrows like a maniac. Jayna rolled her eyes and looked around the room.

Lee and Sam were snogging lightly in one corner, which she assumed was the cause of Ned looking rather depressed and drinking by himself by the fire (apparently he had still liked Sam like that; not that Sam gave one seeing as she'd ended it with him not the other way round). Lydjah was 'dancing' with several different Gryffindor boys, and her eyes were just as glazed as James' (Jayna suspected Lydjah had managed to persuade one of the Seventh Years to give her something a little stronger than Butterbeer though). She couldn't do much more than sway or she knew she'd fall flat on her face. Victoire Weasley was giggling with Chloe as they watched Louis try to sing the words to the next song. It wasn't that he was an awful singer, more that he was having trouble seeing the Common-Room as much more than a blur. Fred Weasley was gaping at the 'dance floor' (the space in-between the sofas and the stairs) though which dancer he was staring at Jayna couldn't be sure. Rose was talking to Scorpius and thankfully they both looked perfectly sober. Albus too didn't look pissed as he chatted to Molly. Lien had been asked to dance by a nervous Gryffindor first-year and had accepted without question. Roxanne was setting off fireworks left right and centre to which a small group of Gryffindors were staring at in awe.

Most of the older Gryffindors were in their dorms but there was a fair few joining in with the party. The Head Boy, Luke Kingston, was sat dutifully on the steps, occasionally renewing the silencing spells around the Common-Room so the teachers wouldn't come to investigate. She supposed this was probably why the student population loved him; he didn't take away their fun; he just made it safer.

Jayna sipped her drink. "No thanks; I don't really like alcohol." _Especially Firewhisky._ She added in her head. _Remember to thank Scorpius later._

"Even something as mild as Butterbeer?" James slurred, gesturing at his drink. She rolled her eyes.

"I don't know how mild the Butterbeer is considering your current state of inebriation, but yes, even then." James pulled a sulky face and Jayna was already beginning to smile as she imagined the childish remark that was going to come out of his mouth.

"Well fine, if you're determined to make your life shit just because you think your brothers' deaths were your fault-" He cut himself off, a bit of sobriety returning to his eyes as they widened in horror, his skin paling considerably. Her stomach whirled with nausea. "Wait shit I didn't mean it, Jayna-" He grabbed her arm, his eyes open and honest but she merely curled her lip.

"You're drunk and you're disgusting. Get off me." She jerked her arm out of his.

"Blackwood wait-" She ignored him and dashed out of the portrait hole but not before he saw the glistening drop of salt water on her cheek.


	41. Of More Unwanted Memories and Strange Marks

_She knew vaguely that Lydjah was upset, and was also mildly concerned that she didn't care in the slightest. Cara had her arm around Jayna's shoulders, the two of them almost exactly the same height. It had been Cara who'd shoved Lydjah off her screaming something about Half-Blood and filth before she'd broken down into sobs. Jayna had managed to move her arms limply around her but didn't say anything, because really, what was there to say?_

_She pulled away from Cara now, ignoring her sister's protests, and began to walk through the rubble that had once made up her house. Parts of walls were still intact but threatened to collapse at any moment. The glass staircase that spiralled up into nothing burnt her fingers when she touched it. No-one seemed to notice her slowly moving around. She wondered why she wasn't crying, didn't people cry when they were upset? But no matter the hollowness she felt in her gut she couldn't bring her eyes to well up. Her foot made a slight clinking noise as it took the next step. She reached down blindly, ignoring the pain that stung her knuckles and picked up the wire frames that had belonged to her brother._

_Her brother. Aleron. Her brother._

_"Occulus Reparo."_

_She frowned at her hand as a couple of pieces of glass flew out of it and onto the frames. Why hadn't she been nicer to him? Why hadn't she jumped up and down just_ hoping _her mother would let her teach him some magic or how to read and write?_

_And why, in Merlin's name, why was he dead and Jayna left to stumble around in this awful darkness?_

_She turned and walked carefully over to where Lydjah and Alen were standing, her head cocked to one side as she looked at them. Her wand was still in her hand and millions of beautiful dark curses were running through her head. Lydjah had the same dirty blood as the murderers. The same ignorance, the same hatred, ran through her veins. She took another step forwards, the curse about to fall from her lips when Lydjah met her hollow eyes with her own tear-filled ones. Jayna cocked her head to the side again and wondered why Lydjah was close to tears. Why did she care?_

_Lydjah's eyes lit up slightly and she walked over. Jayna almost stumbled in shock. She was coming closer to her? Of her own volition? Why wasn't she afraid of her? That was her place. Jayna raised her wand again intending to hex her but what spilled out of her lips was a question._

_"Can I stay with you?"_

_Lydjah had offered her the smallest of smiles, and the tiniest of nods, despite it obviously being up to Alen and Sophia. Jayna hadn't felt any better but she didn't feel any worse. She'd looked over Lydjah's shoulder and watched with dull interest as they pulled away another piece of rubble. Her eyebrows had pulled together at the mess of red and pink that looked back at her with sightless green eyes. Lydjah had turned round, and when she spotted it she'd let out a gasp of horror, spinning back round to stare at Jayna. It was only then that Jayna had connected the eyes to her memories and the glasses in her hands. And once again a scream had ripped through her throat but this one was a curse that had shot out from her wand and hit one of the still standing walls, blasting a hole through it large enough to cause it to crumble and hide what remained of her brother from view._

 

Jayna woke to see Lydjah's concerned face. Lydjah herself looked pretty bad; she had dark circles under her eyes from her hangover and a purpling bruise on her neck that Jayna raised an eyebrow at and Lydjah quickly threw a scarf over.

"Jayna you were screaming in your sleep. Again. Are you alright?"

"It was just a nightmare." Jayna shrugged off but she knew it was worse than that. This wasn't just any old concoction her brain had made up to scare her. This was real. This happened.

She remembered James' words from the day before. She longed to believe he'd only said them because he was drunk but Jayna knew deep down that was how James really saw her, even if usually he would overlook it because…

 _Because what?_ She wondered. _Because she had helped him escape in October? Because they were both still wondering why they had been targeted?_ After all that had happened, he still saw her as an uptight cow who refused to have any fun and thought he now knew the reasoning behind it. To think that she'd thought they were friends. Her blood boiled as she thought of his smug face before their first lesson of Astronomy. She felt anger cloud her vision but it faded as quickly as it came.

Hadn't she been wondering the same thing? She knew she was too guarded, too insistent on keeping up her barriers despite wanting to get round them more than anything. And in the end it had been her barriers that had hurt her instead of blocking the pain like they were supposed to.

"You're going to be late for class if you don't get up soon." Lydjah chided gently. Jayna heard the words leave her mouth before she remembered thinking them.

"I'm not going to class."

"What?"

"I'm not going to class." She repeated more strongly. Lydjah's eyes narrowed. Jayna's eyes flickered to the date on her calendar as she swung her legs out of bed.

"Why not?"

"I've got something I need to return."

 

Molly glanced over at Lien's bed when she woke and almost fainted with shock; Lien was still asleep.

"We're going to be late for breakfast." Again. "Get up!" Lien woke with a start making a face at Molly as she reached up to wipe the sleep out of her eyes. Molly gasped.

"What?" Lien asked tiredly, her voice still heavy with sleep.

"What is that on your arm?" Lien looked down to see what looked like a series of tattoos from her elbow to her wrist. She shrieked, wondering if she'd gotten really drunk last night. She studied the tattoos; they were all the same thing- a half-moon with an eye in the dark space left. Lien shuddered; the tattoo was really creepy. "We have to get you to Madam Longbottom. Cover your arm."

"Why?" Molly threw clothes at her hastily, a grim expression on her face.

"That's not any old tattoo Lien; that's a life-bond."

 

Madam Longbottom had frozen when she saw Lien's arm but seeing the girl's obvious terror she'd calmed down. She sat Lien down on the bed and drew the curtains around it.

"Where did this come from?"

"I don't know. I just woke up this morning and it was all over my arm." Madam Longbottom frowned at her.

"Where do I know you from?"

"You treated me in September after that duel where we all got obliviated-" Madam Longbottom snapped her fingers.

"That's it! You're the girl that might have pushed Miss Blackwood and Miss Dawson out of harm's way?"

"Yes."

"That explains it then. The man who attacked you in the courtyard must have some connection to this mark. Spells as powerful as the killing curse leave traces, imprints, just like the one on your arm."

"Why has it taken four months to turn up then?" Madam Longbottom looked troubled.

"You put both Miss Dawson and Miss Blackwood, possibly both of the Blackwood sisters even, in a life-debt. Until they repay it their lives will be tied to yours. It's an old and complicated magic, I'm not sure I understand it myself. It doesn't mean that if you died they'd die too, but it does mean that if something threatens their lives or yours, a warning will show up." They all looked at Lien's arm. "So my best guess, Miss Irby, would be that between Miss Dawson and the two Miss Blackwoods someone's life is in danger."


	42. Of Justified Slaps and Upsetting Brothers

"Lydjah! Hey Lydjah!" James jogged up to Lydjah, leaving Sam behind him, as he spotted her outside the Transfiguration classroom. Lydjah looked darkly furious but James didn't seem to notice. "Where's Jayna-" He was cut off as her hand snapped forwards and struck his cheek in a definite slap.

He yelped as her nails made a tiny cut in his cheek. Instead of the words that he wanted a curious question bubbled to his lips.

"Why are you wearing a scarf?" Lydjah ignored him but James noted the hint of a blush that lit up her face. He was jealous of her make-up in that second; she'd covered her hangover well. He hadn't woken up in time to get himself a pepper-up potion and knew he looked like shit. For the first time in his life he couldn't yet bring himself to care.

"Do you know what today is?" Lydjah whispered dangerously. She didn't wait for him to answer. "Today is Aleron's birthday." James paled and Lydjah took that moment to take in his appearance. He looked haggard; obviously he didn't deal with hangovers well. His shirt looked as if he'd worn it yesterday as well and his hair was dishevelled even for him.

"What? But it was her birthday yesterday-"

"Yes and it's Aleron's birthday today. They were seven years and one day apart."

"Oh." This was obviously not the response Lydjah was expecting so she tried a new approach.

"To answer your question; Jayna is cutting class. _Jayna Blackwood_ is cutting class. What the Hell did you do to her?!"

"You don't know?" Lydjah gave him a glare that would've melted glass. "Where did she go?"

"I don't know! All I get is a bloody cryptic one-line answer and then she marches off to Professor Vector's office and floos off somewhere! I assume it has something to Aleron considering the date but she'd never skip class unless _you_ 'd said something."

"Why did you automatically assume it was me?"

"Because it's Jayna! Who else does she care the opinion of enough- You know what, I knew because the last time I saw Jayna at the party she was singing on a table and then she went over to you. Just tell me what you said!"

James winced, preparing himself for the inevitable fury. "I may have implied that she refused to have any fun because she blamed herself for her brothers' deaths-" A second slap sent him reeling backwards. There were only three other people stood outside the lesson and they were all Slytherins and didn't care in the slightest (in fact, seeing as one of them was James' ex-girlfriend, she was rather enjoying it).

"Oh what a fucking great idea it will be to make fun of Jayna's weakest point on literally the worst day for it in the entire fucking year! No wonder she was screaming in her sleep last night-"

"She was screaming in her sleep last night?" James asked faintly, guilt filling every pore.

"That doesn't matter! She could be fucking anywhere now doing Merlin knows what and it's all your fault!" She screeched, punctuating her last three words with a hard poke to his chest. James hung his head.

"Just… Just tell her I'm sorry alright? Tell her I'm sorry." He backed away from her slowly, re-joining the corridor that would get him to his first class. He'd barely walked two steps before Albus pulled out of the crowd and stood in front of him.

"James-"

"I'm really not in the mood right now Al ok?" A flash of hurt went through Albus' eyes and his reply was decidedly frostier that his first greeting had been.

"I just wanted to give you this letter. It's from Dad. Apparently that guy they caught on Halloween? Yeah, he's asking to see you."

 

When Lydjah went to her dorm after dinner, having to walk with Skeeter and Turner of all people, it was to see Jayna sat on her bed like she'd never left. She looked up and met Lydjah's gaze. She'd been crying; that much was evident, but she also looked happier than she had in ages. Maybe happy wasn't quite the right word for it… She looked free.

"Where did you go? I've been fending off questions all fucking day-" Jayna patted the bed beside her and Lydjah sat down, tucking her feet underneath her so Jayna could draw the curtains around her bed.

" _Muffilato_." Jayna said softly, keeping Skeeter's prying ears away from her conversation. She fiddled with the hem of her quilt for a bit before looking up again. "I went to give Aleron his glasses back."


	43. Of Secret Birthdays and Fun Things You Ask Your Best Friend To Do

"Happy Birthday." Jayna murmured as she passed Scorpius a, for once, carefully wrapped present, on her way to Herbology. Scorpius thanked her with his eyes and dropped the present into his bag before Albus could see it.

He hadn't told anyone that it was his birthday today; he'd even gone as far as to wake up really early and hide his presents. He supposed James might know, assuming he hadn't lost the Remembrall that Jayna had made him, but he also knew that James was very unlikely to look at it any time soon, considering his current agitated state that everyone knew had something to Jayna but no-one had any idea what it was. He'd noticed that even Sam was shooting James annoyed looks so clearly it was something between James and Jayna, and possibly Lydjah. Scorpius didn't know exactly why he assumed Lydjah knew, she and Jayna were no closer than James and Sam (he didn't think anyone could be closer than those two) but Lydjah always had an air of I-know-something-you-don't about her. If Jayna was the stereotypical Ravenclaw know-it-all then Lydjah was the sixth-sense impossibility.

He had no interest in celebrating his birthday; he never had. He found the whole idea of birthdays ludicrous and stupid and he hated the attention that everyone paid to him on it. He'd explained this once to Jayna who'd continued to give him presents but otherwise acted completely normal on that day. Scorpius really appreciated it, especially as she actually got him something he liked rather than the expensive but useless trinkets his mother and father usually bought him. He knew that Albus and probably the rest of the group would do the same if he told them but figured it could wait another year.

 

"Sam?"

"Yes James?" The two of them strolled down the corridor as they always did, hands in their trouser pockets and their converses slapping the floor in perfect time.

"Dad sent me a letter yesterday." She sensed from his tone that it was quite serious.

"What did it say?"

"The man they caught on Halloween, the one who hasn't said anything since his capture, is now asking for me."

"For you? Why?"

"I don't know. Dad said that if I wanted he could come and pick me up and take me to where they're holding him."

"Where are they holding him?"

"Azkaban." Sam's eyes widened and she let out an involuntary shudder. She looked at James properly and realised he was absolutely terrified. She pulled him to a stop in the middle of the corridor and faced him.

"What's wrong James?" James' legs itched to pace but there was nowhere to go.

"I don't want to go." Sam gave him a quizzical look. "Merlin what kind of Gryffindor am I, hey?" He laughed shakily.

"Why don't you want to go?"

His words shook as he said them. "Because, even though I don't recognise him from the kidnapping; he could've been there. And I can't, I can't Sam, be reminded of that. Nothing even bloody happened to me except Blackwood setting fire to my foot, but the way that I couldn't see the kidnapper as he spoke to me, and I wouldn't have been able to do anything even if I could… He could've killed me right then and I would've been utterly helpless- and that scares me shitless." Sam stared at friend, realising for the first time that James had managed to put up a pretence of humour about the entire thing that had fooled even her. "But I'm going to go anyway."

"Why?"

"Because I'm hoping you'll go with me. And if you're there I won't be scared in the slightest." He said quietly looking at his feet. Sam was touched as she punched his shoulder to lighten the mood.

"Cut a few classes to see a Dark-Wizard or two why not?" James smiled.

"Thank you."

"Alright mate. Owl your Dad back and say you've dragged your best friend to prison with you."


	44. Of Working Families and Carriage Rides

Harry Potter glanced around the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts, waiting for his son and Sam to get down the bloody stairs already. He loved Hogwarts, and he always would, but he'd lost much here as well as gaining more than his eleven year old self could have ever dreamed of. He saw rubble when he looked to the right and Luna Lovegood chattering about nargles when he looked to the left. This place was just brimming with his memories, the good and the bad, and he was so glad that he'd helped to change how many bad memories future generations, like his children, would have to go through.

Or maybe he hadn't if his presence here was anything to go by. He sighed, aggravated, and rubbed a hand over his unruly hair. His wife had not been impressed when she heard where he was taking James, but like him hadn't been able to see an alternative. He hated not knowing anything but hated even more that his lack of knowledge had left him having to resort to dragging his son into this again. He knew James technically wouldn't be in any danger, especially since the prison had been liberated of Dementors a few years back, but Azkaban was not a place you visited lightly.

He hadn't been even slightly surprised when James had replied saying Sam was coming too. Their relationship was how he imagined his father and Sirius' had been and just watching them answer each other's sentences made him feel closer to the people he had lost. James looked exactly like his namesake, not that either of them really knew it, especially because he had brown eyes, even though the older Potter's were hazel not chocolate. They even had the same glasses. Harry's son James, however, didn't seem to be pining after a red-headed cheeky Gryffindor, and, according to Sam, seemed to have gone through half the girls in his year group by now (to his credit James could still name all of them; Sally Curtis (who'd lasted two days), Josie Kent (whose break-up had been the most fun he'd ever experienced), Laura Hackett (the unreasonably gorgeous Slytherin), Riley Skeeter (much to his shame), Rephia Dorsey (the one who'd asked _him_ out) and Irene Farley (the only one he'd actually regretted breaking up with; even though the regret had only lasted as long as he had let it)).

One of the first things Harry had done after the Battle of Hogwarts was visit his vault, intending to get some money to give to Andromeda to help her look after his godson. He'd personally visited each of the families who'd lost someone, from the Browns to the Creevys to the Weasleys. He'd promised Molly (or Mum as she was now insisting) that he'd return for tea before apparating to Diagon Alley. When he'd finally reached his vault however (after a lot of heated debate with various angry goblins), he'd realised it had a lot more in it than just gold.

Only one item caught his eye enough to touch it though; a music-box that played the Beatles and held a number of items. There was three rings (two of which were now on Ginny Potter's hand, the other on his), a key (which turned out to fit the door to his house in Godric's Hollow), two wands, a locket that had a picture of the Marauders and Lily in their seventh year and two letters. He'd been shocked when he'd opened them to find out they were addressed to him. His parents had apparently written them just in case something had happened, he felt his heart drop to the floor and a lump form in his throat when he'd read the date on top of both of them; only three days before they died to save his life.

At the end of both letters Harry had wished for more but at the same time he was glad for just a tiny insight to his parents' lives. It was reading the letters that had made him feel definite in his decision to take Kingsley up on his offer of becoming an Auror and also to marry Ginny (not that she knew that for several years; it seemed that, as always, with Ginny, it took him a long time to work up his courage).

When James had been born Harry had been determined that he would never have to write a letter to his son like his parents had been forced to write to him. So far he'd never been worried enough to even consider it, but there was something stirring in the darkness; he could feel it, and he'd gladly take the blow if it meant James, Albus and Lily wouldn't have to. Harry also knew, however, that at the moment it didn't look as if he had much choice; the darkness was attacking his son and Harry could do nothing.

"Dad?" James' voice sounded from the top of the stairs and Harry's head snapped up, his features relaxing into a smile, his dark thoughts momentarily banished.

"Hey."

"Hey Mr Potter!" Sam called to Harry cheerfully, both of them sounding as if they were about to partake in a casual stroll around the grounds, not a trip past some of the most dangerous wizards of all time.

"It's Harry." He called back, for what must have been the tenth time since meeting Sam. She grinned cheekily.

"I know." They finally got to the stairs and came to stand by Harry. He'd already made all the arrangements with the Headmistress seeing as they'd taken so long to get down there.

"You ready to go?"

"Yep." They chorused. Harry led the way down to the carriage that awaited them. Harry petted the Thestrals before climbing in.

"What do they look like Harry?" Sam asked curiously. Neither she nor James could see them (something Harry was thankful of).

"Well they're black to start with and quite skeletal. They've got huge wings that are very thin but fold up like hippogriffs'. Very eerie looking but they're really lovely if you treat them right." Sam looked out of the front as if force of will would make them show themselves to her. Harry turned to James. "So what was your start-of-term prank this time?"

"You haven't told him?" Sam interrupted confusedly. James squirmed.

"No; he hasn't sent a single letter home since the year started." Sam glared at her friend.

"But you told me you were going to the Owlery to send a letter to your Dad!" James blushed.

"I may have been meeting April."

"Who the fu-" She remembered Harry was in the carriage with them, "On earth is April?"

"April Upton?"

"The Seeker?"

"Yes?" He winced.

"Nice." Sam winked. James gaped at her. "What? She's fit." James let out a shocked laugh. "But why haven't you been sending letters home?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "He's trying to prove a point to his brother that's he's older-"

"Oh James isn't trying to prove a point to Al," Sam laughed, anger creeping into her tone, obvious by the way she spoke through her teeth. Harry quirked his eyebrows. James shot Sam a look that clearly said 'shut up' but Sam ignored it. "seeing as he hasn't properly spoken to him since September."

"What?" Harry asked. James closed his eyes knowing he was about to get severely told off.

"He's pissed over Albus' Sorting." Harry glared at his oldest son.

"That true James?" James tried for a defiant look but it failed miserably. "Merlin I've spent my entire life fighting prejudice only to find my son is full of it?" James flinched.

" _You_ pulled pranks on Slytherins when you were in school. And your nemesis was a Slytherin which was part of the reason you disliked him-"

"And he turned out to be a Death Eater." Harry said flatly. "For some reason I don't think your brother's going to end up going the same way. I have nothing against you pranking the Slytherins; a harmless bit of house rivalry's never hurt anyone, but cutting off your own brother just because he sleeps in a different part of the castle to you? He's the same Al he's always been James!"

James tried to retort but found himself lacking the necessary argument. At his side Sam burst into laughter. The two Potters stared at her.

"What? It's funny; did you see James' face?" She chortled. Harry joined in her laughter leaving James frustrated and fuming next to them, his entire face redder than a tomato.

"So you'll apologise to Al?" Harry asked, when his laughter had finally subsided. James didn't answer, glaring out of the window. " _James_." Harry said warningly.

"Yes I'll apologise." James bit out.

"Finally." Sam said. James was about to retort when the carriage stopped; it had reach the station. James felt his stomach drop as he realised they were only an Apparition and a Portkey away from their destination.

Harry had explained their journey in his letter; carriage down to the station where they were far enough away to Apparate to the Ministry entrance. Then they'd go to the Auror offices (which he had to admit he was a little excited about) to make a Portkey to Azkaban (the only place in the whole of the United Kingdom where you could make a Portkey to that area) and James and Sam would leave their wands there as they weren't trained to deal with an escape like the rest of the Aurors. They'd take the Portkey and visit one of the interrogation cells where apparently the prisoner would be waiting, currently guarded by his Auntie Audrey and Scarlet Kirke.

When Kingsley had come into full power, that is after he was elected as opposed to his status as 'caretaker' minister for the first eight months after the war, one of his first acts was to abolish the Dementors in Azkaban. It took several months for the Auror teams to get rid of all of them but they managed it and Azkaban prison was now guarded by the Auror department on rotating shifts. Harry insisted, as the Head of the Department, to take his shift there too, despite his predecessors delegating this job to the normal Aurors. Azkaban still felt uncannily cold and fearful; no-one enjoyed their shifts there even if all they did was sit around and chat for the entire thing, but it did not drain them as it once would've done.

Harry exited the carriage first but when James made to follow him Sam grabbed hold of his arm, all traces of humour gone from her eyes.

"You sure mate?" He grinned, his fear buried again.

"I'm sure."

"Then let's go."


	45. Of Interviews and Cyanide

As soon as he let go of the Portkey James had felt cold. His breath had shuddered out in short gasps that were visible in the freezing air. He pulled his robes tighter around himself as his teeth chattered and dread sank his heart to the floor. He'd never felt so defeated.

A cold hand grabbed his and he looked to see Sam gripping his fingers for dear life. The eerie feeling vanished and James was left holding a deflated football and his best friend's hand feeling vaguely stupid for having such a strange reaction.

"Why didn't your dad just have us meet this guy in the ministry?" Sam grumbled, rubbing her arms to warm them up.

"Apparently he's in a bit of a fragile state; he's been refusing food and they're not sure whether force-feeding him would help. They don't want to move him." Harry returned from verifying their identities and gave his son a concerned look as he saw the pale colour of his face but James managed a convincing smile.

"You remember the plan?" Harry asked, putting a hand each on their shoulders.

"You'll light your wand and we concentrate on the light, don't look round and concentrate on the light and, above all, don't talk to the prisoners and concentrate on the 'goddamn bloody light'." James and Sam recited. Harry rolled his eyes; Harper Peters had been in charge of briefing the kids while Harry had set up the Portkey and he didn't really know how to code-switch between talking to adults and talking to younger people.

"Alright then." Non-verbally, Harry lit his wand. James stuck his tongue out at him.

They set off down the corridor. James kept his back straight and stared, almost unblinkingly at the light, smiling weakly but without looking to the Aurors they passed on the way.

Unfortunately, James was already having trouble following the plan. Whispers of "Harry Potter," were creeping up his neck and blowing shivers down his spine. He walked faster, jerking Sam along with him as he kept hold of her hand.

"Is that his son?"

"Please Mr Potter sir-"

"Blood-traitor filth! You'll rot in Hell for this!"

"I don't belong here! LET ME OUT! PLEASE!"

"I can smell the Mudblood-"

"Mudblood!"

"I'll kill you! You and your precious children!"

"Nice to see you again Mr Potter." James' head whipped round at the friendly tone and saw a murderous grin stare back at him, blood dripping from its lips-

"James!" He looked down at Sam. "We're here." A pile of clothes sat, chained to a chair in a barred room in front of him. He heard the waves slap thunderously against the rock he was stood on and reeled in the rest of his senses. Hear; the waves, smell; the salt, taste; the blood from where he'd bit into his lip, feel; Sam's slightly calloused (from Quidditch) slim hand in his, see; nothing but a room and a locked man inside.

"You alright James?" His Auntie asked, from where she was stood by the door. She had her wand held loosely in her hand but James doubted that the man inside was fooled; he'd seen his Auntie draw her wand and fire a spell quicker than he could blink and her fierce expression was enough to scare away most people. James was glad he wasn't Molly or Lucy; having that gaze directed at him would've halted any mischief that he could've got into (he was lucky that both his parents found his pranks amusing).

"Yeah I'm good."

"Good to see you again Potter." Scarlet Kirke nodded at James. She had short spiky inky-blue hair and a slightly crooked nose (James assumed from a break) as well as a thick raised scar cutting through her right eyebrow to her hairline. James frowned. She laughed lightly at his confusion. "Apart from the Christmas parties I was also part of your failure of a rescue party in October." She grinned. "You weren't really aware enough to remember me; I apparated off with your friend to St Mungos almost as soon as I'd arrived." James nodded, remembering a bit better now. The two Aurors stepped out of the way and Harry quickly unlocked the door with a key he had produced from his pockets. James wished he had his wand as they stepped inside and left Scarlet and Audrey behind.

The pile of clothes shifted and James saw the gaunt face that was hidden in the shadows, the skinny wrists that were lost in his sleeves. The dying man turned fully towards them and James heard Sam's quiet gasp next to him as if he was underwater; his mind trying to understand the mess that had once been a face. "Burn damage;" Harry said quietly, "it took a lot bring him down."

James wondered for a fleeting second if that's what Jayna's family looked like.

"James Potter." James watched in horrified fascination as a hole with no lips opened from the scars and shuddered out his name. There was a hole through the man's cheek too where James could see the glint of a tooth. James swallowed.

"You asked for me?" James was pleased when his voice didn't shake though it didn't hold the bravado James was hoping for. A gasping laugh appeared from the hole.

"We are the Night-Watchers-"

"And we will have our vengeance?" James asked, suddenly feeling disappointed. This was the only reason he was wanted? "Heard it before thanks." The man ignored him.

"We are far and you are few-"

"Oh yes forgot that bit-"

"And we will have our vengeance. This is the second message." Before any of them could move a tongue had flicked out through the hole in the man's cheek and dislodged a tooth. Harry started forward in alarm but it was too late; the man crunched down on the broken tooth and begun to spasm, froth pouring from his lips. His eyes roved madly around the room and then he went limp, slumping in his chair.

James let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding.

"Well shit." Sam said softly.

"What happened?" James asked, hysteria creeping into his tone.

"Cyanide." Harry said softly. "It's a poison Muggles use. They probably didn't check him for it when he was admitted because they might not have known what it was." He swore angrily and then crushed James to him. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"He's dead?" James asked hollowly, already knowing the answer.

"Well I guess we'll know what Thestrals look like on the way back eh, mate?" Sam nudged his shoulder.

"What did you mean you'd heard it before?" Harry asked.

"During the kidnapping one of the people there; the leader of the operation as far as I could tell, he said the same thing; 'We are the Night Watchers. We are far and you are few. We will have our vengeance.'"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'd forgotten he said that actually. It seemed more like the ramblings of a mad-man than something important." Harry shook his head.

"Maybe it was but just in case… I don't like the idea of this being the 'second' message. I'm assuming the kidnapping was the first… I don't want there to be a third. But I suppose if they're proud of being a Night-Watcher maybe we can get them to confess to being one. A name is very important and I'm sure this group is aware of that. I think it's a little worrying that they're confident enough to give us one."


	46. Of Aftereffects and Rule-Breaking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys sorry this chapter is late; I have been on holiday so couldn't upload. Have two to make up for it :)

"Jayna? Lydjah?" The Ravenclaws paused in the corridor as they were walking to their next lesson, and turned to face the speaker.

"Hey Lien, what's up?" In response Lien pulled back the sleeve of her arm. They both gasped and pulled her into an alcove.

"It's a warning; Lydjah, Cara and possibly you Jayna owe me a 'life-debt', not that I really know what that means, and because of the connection when one of your lives are threatened I get a mark. I suppose it works the other way round too."

"I'll tell my sister." Jayna said quickly, panic filling her tone.

"Do either of you know any more about life-debts?" Lien asked. Lydjah shook her head but Jayna replied.

"They're like a favour that you can call in whenever you wish for whatever you wish. If you call it in the person who owes you their life will be bound to complete it. If they don't they'll die. So I wouldn't waste it on telling Lydjah to just go and get you something from the kitchens or something just in case she's waylaid and dies as a result. You no longer have a favour if the other person saves your life back; then you just become equal again. You don't ever have to call in the favour, it's usually better if you don't actually." Lien nodded and Jayna left to talk to Cara.

 

"Excuse me, Zabini?" The first year turned round as she heard her name to see Jayna Blackwood stood behind her. She'd met the girl before at the Socials; she'd even gone to her family's funeral.

"Yes?"

"Could you get my sister out of the Common-Room? I need to speak to her." Elsa Zabini took in the girl's frantic appearance and nodded, tapping the password into the wall and instantly spying Cara on one of the sofas.

"Blackwood?" Cara's eyes flicked up. "Your sister wants to speak to you. She's stood outside." Cara got up quickly and walked swiftly to the Common-Room entrance.

"Jay?"

"Hey Car." Jayna looked unbelievably relieved to see her. "Sorry for dragging you out of the Common-Room-"

"It's fine." She dismissed. "What did you want to speak to me about?"

"There's a possibility that you're in danger." Cara blinked, surprised.

"What?"

"You know the Courtyard Duel? And the possible killing curse use? And how Lien saved your life-"

"That Mudblood did not save my life-"

"Cara shut up with the Pureblood pride for a sec and listen ok? Let's say, potentially, Lien saved your life; she's got a life-debt warning. It could be for me or you or Lydjah we're not sure yet. Just be careful." Cara paled.

"You could be in danger?" Jayna frowned.

"Well yeah. I've already been kidnapped once this year-"

"What?!" Jayna blinked and then realised that Cara wouldn't know.

"Oh, yeah. I got kidnapped in October."

"What the fuck? Why didn't you tell me? What happened? Are you ok-"

"Cara, why on earth would I tell you? You've made it clear you don't want me in your life." Jayna felt tears clog her throat as she said this. To her utmost shock, Cara barrelled her into a hug.

"You bloody idiot. Of course I want you in my life. You're my sister." Jayna hugged her back and felt few tears hit Cara's shoulder.

"Ok." Jayna said simply. They both ignored the huge barrier of different views between them and just held each other tight like they always had.

"Now come inside and tell me about this kidnapping of yours."

 

James watched, under the cloak, as the two sisters walked into the Slytherin Common-Room in complete disbelief. He'd been right. He'd been fucking right. Jayna was still a racist Pureblood. She'd just willingly embraced her complete cow of her sister who'd made no effort to conceal her Pureblood Supremacy views. He ignored everything he'd learnt about Jayna in the past year and forgot why he'd come down here in the first place (to apologise to Al). He did nothing but let anger boil away the guilt from Jayna's party and walk away.

 

January faded into February and the last of the lingering Christmas cheer faded with it. The snow melted away completely and left the possibility of flowers in its wake.

Albus woke up on the morning of his birthday with a grin already on his face. Scorpius laughed as, for the first time ever, he got out of bed without concealing his crazy bed-hair. He attempted to brush his teeth while singing in the shower, something none of the other boys appreciated considering Albus' awful pitch. By the time he got back Scorpius had finished with his coffee (from the coffee flask Al had bought him) and was looking alert as Albus tore open his presents.

Scorpius felt a little flare of envy as he saw the card that Albus received from his family.

_Al,_

_Happy Birthday!_

_Lots of love,_

_Mum, Dad, Lily, Gran, Granddad, Uncle Bill, Auntie Fleur, Uncle Charlie, Uncle Percy, Auntie Audrey, Lucy, Uncle George, Auntie Angelina, Uncle Ron, Auntie Hermione and Hugo._

As well as the card Albus had a small mountain of presents, so much so that they were spilling off the bed and onto the floor. He made a list of them so he could send off thank you cards (Scorpius gave him a weird look;

"Do you send ones to your Mum and Dad too?"

"Not usually though I suppose this year I'll have to.") and ended up using two sheets of parchment to write it all down.

Scorpius had to literally drag him away to Charms promising him that they'd go to the Owlery and send off all the thank you cards later. It was good to see Al in good spirits again; he'd been despondent after the Slytherin team had been completely thrashed by Gryffindor's (although Slytherin had managed to put every single member of the opposition barring their Seeker (April- James' astonishingly still girlfriend) in the Hospital Wing meaning they had to rely on their reserves) as everyone knew they would be. The entire match Al had been furiously commenting under his breath about what their team was doing wrong and to Scorpius' surprise what he was saying actually made a lot of sense. The team seemed to have been picked entirely on its brawn instead of skill. Their captain; Jerry Rigden, was the worst of all; he spent the entire time staring at Martha's arse instead of trying to find the snitch. Only when she was knocked senseless by an 'accidentally' swung bat by Amy Belby did he even glance around, and he was just in time to see April diving for the snitch that had been sat next to his knee for the past ten minutes.

Later on, on their way back from the Owlery, Scorpius and Al took a wrong turn on a staircase (or the staircase took a wrong turn on them depending on how you look at it) and ended up lost on the seventh floor. They were rather annoyed considering they were missing dinner, and walked rapidly around corridors (Scorpius insisting they were on the fifth floor and Albus stubbornly saying the fourth) until they finally gave up. Scorpius sat down on the floor and began swearing in rapid French. Albus ignored him, pacing back and forth, muttering about how he just had to get lost on his birthday.

It was a shame too that their whole group's dynamic had been thrown off by James and Jayna's feud. Everyone in the group had bought him a present (even James) but he knew there was no chance of a party if he didn't want it ending with a barrel of firewhisky being poured on James' head (well technically he thought that would be quite funny but whatever James would've said to Jayna to get her to do that wouldn't have been).

"Al?" Scorp asked wonder and maybe a tiny bit of terror creeping into his voice.

"What?" Albus snapped distractedly. Scorpius' tone remained unchanged.

"Look behind you." Albus turned to see a huge set of bronze doors that had magically appeared behind him. He walked carefully over to them, ignoring Scorpius' warning hand on his arm, and touched the one closest to him with the barest poke of his fingertips, wondering if it would feel still like a wall. To his utmost surprise, the door crumbled under his hand, turning into ash, pooling on the ground in a great black heap. He leaped back in surprise, only to see a great wasteland of smouldering rubble behind where the door used to be.

Piles of fading embers, dying oranges and flickering yellows, hidden amongst the detritus of charred objects (was that a giant Wizard's Chess piece?) still gave enough heat to make him wish he didn't wear a blazer. Other odd objects were partially intact; there was a gramophone that stuck up from the closest pile, a rusted sword hilt (the sword itself had been completely melted), the bottom half of a banjo and even the tiny bones of a pixie that rested only a metre away from his foot. The two Slytherins gaped in utter astonishment for a few moments, both trying to comprehend the enormity that was hidden inside a wall.

"What the Hell is this place? What happened here?"

"Don't you know it?" Al replied faintly. "Considering your father was in here when it happened and all."

"What? How do you know that?"

"It's the Room of Requirement Scorp. Or at least it used to be."

"What's the Room of Requirement?" Albus tore his gaze away from the mess in front of him to stare incredulously at his friend.

"Didn't your Dad ever tell you anything about what he did in the war?" Scorpius raised an eyebrow.

"He's not exactly going to say 'Hey son, when I was a little older than you I joined the side of the Death Eaters who tortured people like Lien Irby because I had no choice though I kind of didn't mind seeing as I'd been calling them all Mudbloods for years even though I had a crush on one of them oops, do you want to hear about it?' is he?"

"He had a crush on a Muggleborn?"

"Is that seriously what you got out of that sentence?"

"Fine, yes I see you have a point. Basically my Dad went looking in here for something… He wouldn't ever tell me really what it was other than it would help to defeat Voldemort- and he met your Dad who was lying in wait for him you know because they were in the middle of a warzone, literally. Then your Dad's dumb friend set the whole place on fire and then ended up dead as a consequence of falling into the flames-"

"That's how Crabbe died?" Scorpius was looking like he'd just been punched through the gut.

"Er…"

"Father only told me he died at some point during the battle, which is why Goyle named his son after him. I thought maybe he had one alright friend…" Albus shifted uncomfortably, realising he hadn't spoken with a lot of tact.

"Erm, want to go tell the others about this place?" He invented quickly.

"And have Jayna and Potter in the same space? No thank you." Scorpius recovered, for which Albus was grateful.

"They can stuff it; it's _my_ birthday. Let's go."

"We can't; we're still lost, remember?" Scorpius pointed out.

"No we're not; if this is the Room of Requirement then we're on the seventh floor and seeing as Gryffindor tower is nowhere in sight I'd say we were on the left side."

"Left? How in Merlin's name did we end up on the left?" Scorpius mused as Albus led the way through the corridor.

 

"Hey Lien."

"Oh hey Al." Lien turned to see the Slytherin behind her. He was blushing slightly (he blamed it on the left-over heat from the Room of Requirement).

"Don't I get a hey?" Molly interrupted teasingly, ruining their moment. She winked at Lien, who blushed, much to Albus' confusion.

"I was getting there." Albus muttered crossly. Molly pulled a face at him.

"Oh; Happy Birthday!" Lien said excitedly. Most of the Hufflepuff table turned to look at them. They both went even redder as Molly began to guffaw.

"Thanks Lien."

"What are you still doing over here?" Scorpius joined the conversation, oblivious to Lien and Al's embarrassment, bringing with him Lydjah, Sam, Jayna and James. The latter two were pointedly looking in opposite directions, much to the irritation of everyone else. Lydjah had tried to get Jayna to let it go but knew it was a matter of dealing with Jayna's ridiculous pride. Sam, after finally wheedling the story out of James, had banged her head repeatedly on a wall when he tried to convince her that Jayna was conspiring with a known Dark witch to take over western Portugal. Needless to say, Sam didn't believe his story, though James was very taken with the idea.

"Are we supposed to be going somewhere?" Molly asked mournfully, looking down at her half eaten pudding.

"Sorry Mollykins," Molly scowled at the hated nickname and at Lien who couldn't contain a giggle, "but Scorpius has convinced us that whatever he and Al found is worth leaving our food and putting up with certain company-" Sam cut James off by placing a hand over his mouth, much to his protests.

"You coming?" The two Hufflepuffs shared a look and a shrug and then got up, trailing after Albus as he excitedly half-skipped out of the Great Hall.

"This is what I abandoned my chocolate cake for?" Molly said, looking rather green as she saw the pixie bones. Sam marched inside the room before anyone could say anything else, looking interestedly at the gramophone. The rest of the group trooped in after her. James swore viciously as he burnt his hand trying to pick up one of the pieces of rubble. Everyone stared at him; wondering if he was really as stupid as he acted around cute girls, and Jayna burst into harsh mocking laughter. She casually brought her tin of burn cream out of her pocket and began rolling it around in her hand, humming the catchiest tune she could think of.

Jayna could almost hear his teeth grinding.

"I wonder if you could break any of Hogwarts' rules in here." Lydjah mused, oblivious to the little exchange. Sam and James both perked up at the idea of breaking rules.

"Like what?"

"The anti-Apparition one maybe?" Jayna sent a frightened look to James despite herself but as he hadn't yet caught on he only pulled a sneer back. Moments later he turned to her again but she was glaring rather fiercely at the banjo and he thought it best not to interrupt her.

"Lydjah, if we could, that would explain how they got us out of the school."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, in October?" Lydjah's eyes widened.

"How are we going to test that one though?" Sam interrupted, for once the voice of reason. "I don't know about you but I can't Apparate." Lydjah's expression turned grim.

"I know someone who can though."

"Who?"

"Seraphina Miller; the Head Girl."

"Yeah basically everyone in seventh year can Apparate."

"True, but I know a way of getting specifically Seraphina to Apparate in here."

"How?"

"Tell her Derrick's in here." Lydjah said triumphantly. She was met with blank faces. She sighed, disappointed in her friends' lack of 'knowledge'.

"Oh come on; she thinks she's desperately in love with him; he only wanted her for a quick shag;" She ignored Lien choking as she said that, "she'd do anything if she thought Derrick would date her."

"But what happens when she realises that Derrick's not here?" Jayna asked, very used to Lydjah knowing all the gossip when it came to the relationships around the school, whereas everyone else was still gaping at her in astonishment. Lydjah shrugged.

"I don't know; we'll obliviate her or something." Jayna failed to grasp that it was supposed to be a joke.

"Ok; let's do this."


	47. Of Hidden Talents and Broken Magic

"Miller?" Seraphina looked up from her awful NEWT level Transfiguration homework, quite prepared to attack whoever was interrupting her (to be fair she had an awful migraine), but the urge faded when she saw Lydjah's grinning face staring back at her.

"Oh, hey Dawson. What do you want?" Lydjah's name was one of the few names that Seraphina's scatter-brained ways managed to keep hold of. Lydjah often made vague predictions to her, that she'd once scoffed at, but now realised held quite a lot of truth (she wasn't aware of the full extent of Lydjah's aptitude for Divination but was aware that Lydjah was very perceptive in divining other people's romantic feelings.)

"Dabney asked me to send you to the left corridor on the seventh floor to the room with no doors. He gave me this." From behind her Lydjah carefully produced an orchid and passed it over. It had a small note; _I'll be waiting._ She conveniently didn't notice that it was written in James Potter's handwriting. Abandoning her homework on the table, she all but ran out of the portrait hole shouting a hurried 'thank you' over her shoulder.

Lydjah made herself count to twenty before she dashed out after her.

Molly and Lien watched, trying to contain their nervous giggles as Seraphina found their second note; _Think of where I'll be and Apparate_ , and the second orchid. She sighed dreamily and clutched the note to her chest, blaming the sudden heat as she'd walked into the room-with-no-doors, on her ecstatic happiness. Lien felt a bit bad for a second but then she remembered that Derrick was a prat. Sam and James were sweating as they concentrated on keeping the concealing Charm on the rubble that surrounded them.

Albus and Scorpius watched with baited breath as Seraphina spun on her heel… And vanished. They all let out screams of triumph. Jayna was biting her nails with casual distain.

"Where did she go though?"

The other seven blinked at her and then James voiced all their thoughts. "Shit."

They finally found Seraphina on the Quidditch Pitch, with the help of the Map (they'd been delayed by James getting very pissed that they all knew about it), where she was sobbing her heart out. Lydjah started to panic.

"What if she's splinched herself?" She asked in a furious whisper. She waited impatiently as Jayna approached the Head Girl, knowing she couldn't go up herself after the whole charade she'd pulled.

"Miller? Are you ok?" Seraphina started as Jayna spoke, her long hair inky black in the rain as it stuck to the tear tracks on her face. Jayna blinked the water from her eyes, concealing a shiver.

"What are you doing out here?" Seraphina sniffed crossly. Jayna stuttered realising she had no excuse to be on the Quidditch Pitch just before curfew in the pouring rain.

"Er, Quidditch practice?" Sam rolled her eyes from where she was hiding with the rest of them under the stands. Luckily Seraphina had gone hysterical at the mention of Quidditch and Jayna was now awkwardly patting her on the shoulder.

"I can't believe he would be so cruel!" She sobbed. Jayna frowned.

"Who?"

"Derrick!" She wailed. Let it just be said here that Seraphina Miller was not a weak person, except when it came to boys. She was also only unintelligent when it came to boys, and quite often hysterical. Everyone knew this but no-one really minded however, seeing as she was amazing the rest of the time.

"What did he do?"

"He sent me all these stupid notes so I'd come here just in time to see him snogging Hazel." She spat out her fellow Prefect's name with as much venom as if she was talking about Voldemort. Jayna winced; now there was going to be an interesting Prefect meeting.

"Seraphina look at me." Jayna said gently. Seraphina looked up to see fourteen and half inches of vine staring her in the face. " _Obliviate_." She finished strongly. Seraphina's eyes went slightly misty and she looked about confusedly.

"Blackwood? What-"

"Are you ok?!" Jayna said, feigning panic. "I just came onto the pitch in time to see you trip and hit your head. Do you need to go to the Hospital Wing?" Jayna was praying she'd say no. Seraphina shook her head slowly.

"Thanks Blackwood but I'm fine." She walked off slightly dazedly back to the castle. As soon as she was gone the other seven pounced on Jayna.

"I can't believe you actually obliviated her!" Jayna blinked at them.

"Why not?" They began walking back to the Room.

"Because it's- It's- Morally wrong!" Lien spluttered.

"And faking a date with the person she's infatuated with wasn't?" Jayna countered. "Besides, maybe you should have said that before I obliviated her, huh? Just a thought."

When they got back to the Room and stood outside it the (mostly) companionable silence was broken by Lydjah sighing wistfully.

"What is it?" Sam asked, not unkindly.

"I think we should try and fix the Room. Can you imagine it? It would be so useful." Unfortunately, Jayna was already raising an eyebrow sceptically.

"Yeah, because second-year magic is going to work on this." She said sarcastically, gesturing at the enormity of the room.

"Oh ye of little faith." Lydjah retorted, pulling out her wand. " _Reparo Maxima_!" She said, almost sternly, at the empty space in front of her. To everyone's great surprise, the spells that made the room change to whatever the invoker wanted were still intact, and slowly but surely the ash by their feet that used to be the doors joined together and began to reform into the majestic bronze gateways again. They all waited with baited breath as the view of the room itself was obstructed by the repaired doors. When they'd completely finished they vanished out of their sight.

Jayna put her hand on the wall, looking panicked. "Where did it go?" Albus gestured for her to step away from the wall and then paced in front of it three times, thinking about needing a place to relax.

The door rematerialized and Albus pushed it open, childishly crossing his fingers for good luck. The sight that met him was not what he'd been expecting; it was ten times better. An almost completely black room would've greeted him, if not for the open-to-the-sky ceiling that let in the light from the stars. There was three beds; one sea-green double bed that was definitely wave themed with ivory metal frames that were twisted into the shape of a huge conch shell; the top half covered the head of the bed keeping the light out, one dark green single with quidditch themed covers and one a light peach queen-size single that had a quilt covered in pictures of various Muggle celebrities. At the end of each bed there was a small bookcase built into the bottom (Jayna squealed when she saw the last Hunger Games book; Mockingjay, and didn't even bother to look around the rest of the room instead dashing over, completely forgetting about her rule of refusing to run anywhere).

It was a shame she didn't because there were a few other interesting things in there; two comfy armchairs; one bright red with a built in record player on the top (Sam was rather disappointed that even the room of requirement didn't do electricity) and the other a silver recliner with a cup holder in the arm that could recline back until it was almost horizontal, two sofas facing each other; one bright gold that clashed with the sea green bed near it horribly and the other a nice blue that had really sink-into cushions on it and finally a beanbag that was bright yellow but other than that relatively simple.

The remaining seven of them all immediately dashed to a piece of furniture each, convinced their favourite would be wanted by all the others. It was only when they bothered to look up that they realised each of them was on a different piece of furniture (Jayna on the sea-themed bed, Albus on the quidditch-themed one, Lien on the Muggle celebrity bed, Sam in the red armchair, Scorpius in the recliner, James on the gold sofa (thankfully his presence on it lessened the terrible effect it had on the rest of the room), Lydjah on the blue one and Molly happily lying on her beanbag) and they all immediately began cracking up (even Jayna though she was laughing at the book not them).

Lydjah got up and pulled the book out of Jayna's hands. Jayna made a loud noise of protest, much to everyone's amusement. "How bad is second year magic now huh?" Lydjah said smartly. Without waiting for an answer she began singing at a comfortable volume. "I've got the magic in me,"

Despite Jayna, James, Albus, Scorpius and Molly being completely convinced it was a made up song Lien joined in without any conversation between the two. "Every time I touch that track it turns into gold,"

Sam was watching the two of them as they began a dramatic tango to a definitely not-tango song with her head cocked. "Is that from Pitch Perfect?"

"From what?" James asked, more confused than ever. To his utmost surprise, Sam too began humming it under her breath. Lydjah and Lien both stopped dancing but kept singing and beckoned her to join them. Sam glared at them.

"No." They both finally stopped singing.

"Why not?"

"Because my _mother_ taught me to sing." James winced but everyone else looked blank.

"So?"

"So I can only sing soprano alright?" The other seven managed a full moment before bursting into laughter.

"Go on then." Sam narrowed her eyes at the goad from Lydjah.

"What?"

"Sing."

"No way."

"Why not? It'll be a laugh."

"Yeah; for you!"

"Only if you can hit the notes." James whistled low under his breath as Sam's eyebrows drew in.

She opened her mouth and sang. Everyone's eyes widened, even James'. She had perfect pitch, the perfect sound… She made the completely upbeat song sound like the last cry of a phoenix. She finished the song with a final high note that she managed to hold for several seconds and then tapped Lydjah's jaw shut.

She walked towards the door. "I do believe it's past curfew." With that she flounced out.


	48. Of Vows of Silence and How Easily They Are Broken

It was in Defence Against the Dark Arts the next day that James received the first non-anger-filled words from Jayna he had gotten since her birthday. The lesson had been vaguely interesting; let's face it; Professor Avisana could make flobberworms eating habits sound interesting, but James had been spending more time contemplating the burn on his hand and how it was incapacitating his wand work. Oh he knew it wasn't that bad really, merely a blister, but he still wished that he had been able to use that burn cream.

It had taken him several months to finally realise the significance of the burn cream, before he'd just thought that Jayna would have one for every state; frostbite, bruises, sores etc, but then he remembered how, you know, almost her entire family had burnt to death. The revelation had caused him to go scouring for the newspaper article that had been written about it and as he read the words he felt indignant anger filling him about how they'd phrased it ('such a _terrible_ tragedy' etc). Of course, as soon as he registered his anger he had immediately denied it (startling Sam who didn't have a clue what he was on about) and had thrown the paper into the Common-Room fire.

And he had no idea how he felt about Al either. He wasn't annoyed anymore, or even hurt, but being totally accepting of him would have made him a hypocrite and he would have had to admit his entire argument with Jayna was completely invalid. Unfortunately, James' conscience wouldn't let him continually punish Albus for something that wasn't his fault and so James had found himself trapped in this constant state of civility hoping no-one would catch on and show him up as the hypocrite he was (though he was still rallying support for the Blackwood-sisters-plan-to-take-over-western-Portugal idea; so much so that he had actually convinced himself it was a legitimate concern).

He was very surprised then, when the screwed up scrap of paper hit him on the shoulder (she'd been going for his face but Merlin knew she'd never had a good aim) and was even more shocked when it had Jayna's recognisable indecipherable handwriting on it.

_'Despite me now breaking a vow of silence towards you to write this I do believe what we discovered earlier was quite important.'_

_'What; that Sam can sing?'_

_'Haha you're bloody hilarious. No; the Apparation thingy.'_

_'Can we still Apparate in there though? Lydjah did repair it.'_

_'True; you should tell your Dad anyway.'_

_'That we obliviated another student? No thanks; he'd have my head.'_

_'I Obliviated another student not you; I'll take full blame for it. It could help him in his investigation. Also there might be other points in the school where the defence needs re-doing after the Battle of Hogwarts.'_

There'd been a break in the note-passing here and James had wasted half a sheet of parchment trying to write a convincing argument but had finally given up.

_'Ok.'_

Five and a half years later James would remember this exchange with sudden clarity; the way the classroom had looked; for once all students actively taking notes as Professor Avisana spoke clearly about their exams coming up at the end of the year. The realisation that Jayna was taking time out of her favourite class to send him notes that she could have easily told him afterwards. The way Sam's smug grin hadn't faded yet. The way the dreariness of February had all been a disguise for the magnificence hidden within. The way he had hated it at the time and just how much he wished that he was there again now. How simple it all was; how black and white. How he'd never had to save a life, and now he'd attended the funeral of more than he wanted to count.

He would remember more specific things too; the see-through blueness of Sam's eyes, the freckles on the end of Jayna's nose, the ink stains on the back of Lydjah's hands, the way Ned's parting had fallen to the left instead of the middle, the way Professor Avisana looked so tall (he towered over her now), the way the tree outside the window had looked half alive and half dead, the way his stomach had growled for lunch.

Five and a half years later James Potter had been pushed to the limits of everything he could stand. Five and a half years later James Potter would commit an act of cowardice. Five and a half years later James Potter would turn up, sodden and dripping, on his friend's doorstep hoping that they'd let him in just one more time.

Five and a half years later the door would remain firmly closed to James Potter's face.

 

Jayna saw the word 'Ok' written everywhere. She was trying to take notes but she couldn't hear what the Professor was saying. There was a roaring in her ears and a lump in her throat, and Merlin damn it she wasn't going to cry in front of half her year group over a stupid boy but she missed him because he had been her friend and he made her laugh.

But he thought she was weak and annoying so she'd pretended she felt the same and now she was just a mash of confused feelings and hurt. She wasn't weak. She was sad, of course she was sad, Merlin, but she refused to be seen as weak, no matter how... Crumbly she felt inside. If he wanted her to play the arrogant Pureblood with an icy exterior then he'd be in for an impressive performance and she'd make him regret he'd ever wished for it.

Five and a half years later Jayna would look back on this lesson and manage to muster one of her signature small smiles that lit up a certain person's day, but they wouldn't be around to see it. She would remember the way James had kept having to push up his glasses because he'd bent them slightly out of place doing who knows what, the way Sam would smirk without looking over and Jayna would just know some witty comment was about to come their way, the way Lydjah had been concentrating so hard she'd almost managed to go cross-eyed (something Lydjah ordinarily couldn't do).

She'd think about the classroom through the years, how painful the good memories were and how bored she was of the bad ones. She'd recall staring absently out of the window in order to debate whether the grass could be considered properly green yet, or if she could even recognise proper green grass now considering it had been so long since summer.

Five and a half years later Jayna Blackwood would be convinced that she'd touched Hell and just about survived. Five and a half years later, Jayna Blackwood would inform a friend about their brother's disappearance. Five and a half years later, Jayna Blackwood would look out into a rainy night and wonder if she'd ever be able to forget.

Five and a half years later, as a knock sounded on her door, Jayna Blackwood knew the answer to her question.

 

James sent his letter about half an hour later, not noticing the thoughtful gaze of the mostly-invisible person in the Owlery with him as his large owl soared into the sky.


	49. Of Mudbloods and the Human Owl Service, Otherwise Known As Best Friends

For each of the eight people this story concerns, the Valentine's Day weekend of February 2018 meant a different thing.

For James Potter it meant a trip with his beautiful girlfriend (all he had to bring was some flowers). Of course, even he wasn't reckless enough to sneak into Hogsmeade when all the third-years and above would be there so he contented himself with a walk around the lake and a thorough snog by it afterwards.

For Sam Andrews it was the first date she'd ever been on with her quite-possibly-maybe-girlfriend (they hadn't really defined it yet). Neither of them were the romantic gesture sort and both had a positive hatred of flowers (Sam was allergic and Lee thought they were useless) so instead they spent the day dropping soft fruit onto unsuspecting couples' heads from their position on the seventh floor. Not that there were many couples about seeing as everyone had 'buggered off to Hogsmeade' (as Lee put it), so most of their time was spent talking (but mostly exchanging hesitant kisses).

For Lien Irby it was a normal Saturday; she was sure she'd appreciate it more if she had a boyfriend or in a few years when she got to go to Hogsmeade but at that moment Lien was quite content to just go on a quick jog around the castle like every morning. The marks still hadn't faded from her arm so she'd taken to wearing long-sleeves everywhere. Lien wondered if maybe it was a fluke; no-one seemed to be in any danger to her. She'd asked Scorpius to keep an eye on Cara and she saw Lydjah and Jayna enough herself.

For Molly Weasley it was another year of general distaste as girls and boys alike fell over each other in an attempt to impress whoever it was they liked. Molly never had much time for romance; she could appreciate the idea of it but had never found the desire to experience it herself. Not because she was scared of romantic interactions, she'd just never seen what was so fascinating about being in love with another person, and didn't like it very much when people seemed to consider friendships less important.

For Albus Potter it was a day doing homework and catching up with Rose in the library; they hadn't talked properly in a while and it was nice to hear her laugh again. He'd forgotten about the date until Rose had mentioned it; apparently she'd been about to be asked on a date by one of the Gryffindor boys in their year on Wednesday but he'd been stopped when one of the torches tipped suddenly and the open flame had caught his hair. She thought it was very strange that the torch fell at that particular moment, but didn't have any evidence of it being anything more than a coincidence.

For Scorpius Malfoy it was a morning of finally writing to his Dad about the letter he'd given him and then an afternoon of playing Exploding Snap with Sawyer (something he excelled at and was determined to beat Jayna in at the next opportunity) before he finally remembered the huge pile of homework he had for Monday which he immediately cracked on with (not before he looked up more subtle spells than tipping torches though).

For Lydjah Dawson this particular Valentine's day weekend was filled with a peculiar kind of horror, a mystery and a raging anger.

For Jayna Blackwood, well, her day started awfully and didn't get any better from there. She'd been having a dream about a basement, it was familiar but at the same time she couldn't remember it, and she was sure her Grandfather had been in it but by the time she was pulled abruptly out of her slumber they were the only two things she could remember about it.

The reason for her sudden rush to consciousness had started her screaming. One moment she'd been asleep and the next she was covered head to foot in a warm, thick, reddy-brown liquid. It choked her as she opened her mouth, causing her to begin coughing desperately, smearing it even further into her bedsheets. When she'd tasted the metallic tang mixed in with the thick mud her screams had only gotten louder. Loud enough, in fact, to awake even Lydjah from her sleep and set off the other people in her dorm to begin screaming with her.

She was crying, the tears making the smallest of dents in the horrible liquid that wouldn't come off. It stained her skin as clawed at it, succeeding only in trapping it under her nails. She looked into the mirror which was a mistake; her hair was matted and dripping with the horrible substance, her face unrecognisable as her red rimmed eyes blended into the mess around them. The words on the mirror were the real problem though; in block capitals (the best way to conceal the handwriting) a message was written for anyone who wanted it.

'MURDERER' glared back at her, right over the reflection of her forehead. The flash of Riley's camera had sent Lydjah into a murderous rage but she was still drunk with sleep and the sneering gossip queen had managed to escape the dormitory with Paige and her camera still intact. Lee had left early to fly around the pitch before her meeting with Sam so that left Lydjah with Jayna. After finally managing to calm her friend's hysterics she'd helped her into the shower and cleaned off the bed as best she could before stripping the sheets and putting them into the wardrobe that the house-elves collected them from.

It had taken the best part of the morning to clean the mud and blood off Jayna; it still wasn't out of her hair (they'd used up all of Riley's special shampoo trying) and by the time they were done Lydjah was ready to kill. The feeling only intensified when she left Jayna for a moment and went into the Common-Room only to find a blown up version of the picture Riley had taken earlier. She'd managed to capture the angle just right so the mirror and the words had been caught as well as the monstrous sight that had been Jayna.

Lydjah hated to admit it but the way the photo was staged made Jayna look like a murderer in a horror film; if you looked closely you could see the terror in her eyes but of course no-one was looking closely. When Jayna descended the stairs a few minutes later it was to complete silence. The other Ravenclaws (excluding Lydjah) were glaring at her with varying degrees of fear and dislike. It was almost enough to make her run back into her room when she saw Patrick being part of the group but the she knew she'd most likely trip if she tried to do anything quickly so instead she walked to the exit, not waiting to see if Lydjah was following her.

When Lien had gotten back from her jog it was to see Molly staring grimly at a picture in front of her. Lien flinched visibly as she saw it and understood the implications.

"That's horrible-" Lien began in a shocked gasp.

"Yeah she is, isn't she?" Lien stared at her best friend in surprise; surely she didn't suddenly hate Jayna? "Think about it Lien; she's the daughter of Pureblood maniacs. Everyone knows she's chummy with her Muggleborn-hating sister again, who knows who else she's friends with!"

"You hated James' annoyance over Al's sorting and he's actually a Slytherin!" Lien retaliated.

"That's completely different; Al is a Potter he's nothing like them-"

"Well what about Scorpius?" Molly's glare grew even brighter.

"If Uncle Harry says their family is ok I'm taking his word for it. He's never said anything about the Blackwoods being good."

"That's because he doesn't know them; which in my mind is a good thing seeing as he deals with criminals!" Molly wasn't listening to her. "Dark wizards or witches don't buy people Christmas presents Mol!" She tried again but Molly was too furious, seemingly with herself, for not realising Jayna's 'true nature' earlier. "Molly I'm the Muggleborn here and Jayna's never done anything to me-"

"Lien you told me how her smile dropped when she found out you were a Muggleborn-"

"Because her entire family had just been killed by Muggles!"

"Right." Molly said disbelievingly. Lien frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean-" Molly changed the subject quickly, backtracking.

"How do you know that?" Lien blushed, effectively distracted.

"I, er, may have sneaked a glance at her file when I was interviewed by your Uncle." Molly gave her an appraising look but was quickly building up steam again for her Jayna-hating campaign.

"She comes from a long family of hatred-"

"So did that prisoner of Azkaban escapee right? Something Black? Didn't he turn out alright?"

"You can't just compare one person to another and make judgements on them because of it!" Lien blinked a few times as Molly stared her down in a fury, apparently not realising the complete hypocrisy of her statement. Molly took her silence as giving up and stormed out of the common room, heading for breakfast.

Lien went after her once she'd got changed from her running clothes. She didn't know what to do. On the one hand, she had no idea what the Wizarding War was like. She had no idea if the mere mention of Jayna's last name should be accompanied with a shudder. She didn't even know Jayna well enough to form a good argument on her behalf. On the other, she highly doubted the girl who'd grinned so widely at concert tickets could actually be torturing Muggleborns in her spare time. She also thought she'd been in Hogwarts long enough to assess the blood-purity prejudices in her generation and while they were most probably still there most people's views were under the surface. Not that she thought this was a good thing, but at least they weren't actively discriminating against people.

As for Jayna specifically, well yes Jayna had treated her very coldly on that first day on the train but Lien honestly believed that it was just discomfort from losing her family. And yes she'd made peace with her sister, but Lien knew their views were a source of conflict between the two, and also that if all of her family had died leaving only herself and her sister she wouldn't care if her sister turned out to be that Unnamed-Dark-Riddle-Snake-Man; she'd still stick to her like glue.

When Lien reached the Great Hall she once again cursed her small legs for not getting her there faster and also for bothering to change out of her running gear. In front of her was a very silent student-body who were watching with interest the huge one-sided shouting-match taking place in the centre of the room, between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. The few teachers who were still sat down (it was quite late in the morning by now and most of them had gone out for the weekend anyway) seemed to be watching with as much horrified fascination as the students. Molly stood yelling, for once towering over Jayna, her face brighter than her hair if possible. Dominque grabbed her wrist to calm her down but Molly shook her off impatiently.

"Why won't you look at me?!" She screamed, shaking Jayna's shoulder. Jayna looked awful. She was turned away from Molly, a spoon halfway into her cereal. Her shoulders were slumped over, so different from her usual Pureblood posture, and her hair, usually so sharp and glossy was matted and slightly red. She turned now, so she was half-facing Molly but looking mostly towards the entrance doors where Lien was crossing towards them.

"Weasley, I'm really sorry that the acts that my family are rumoured to have committed before they all _burnt to death_ in a house fire made you feel the need to come and shout at one of their only remaining relatives but I'm afraid they can't hear you." Molly's eyes narrowed to slits.

"You're just like them-"

"And proud of it!" Jayna screamed back, standing up herself. Molly took an involuntary step back. "Let me tell you something about growing up as a Pureblood. My life wasn't made up of attending social gatherings while Voldemort sympathisers grumbled amongst themselves about their cocktails ok? I had a normal enough childhood. I'm trilingual. Did anyone bother to ask about that? My parents and the rest of my family taught me as much as they could teach a little girl. They were Purists but mostly they didn't support Voldemort's actions. They weren't baddies with masks and dark cloaks. They were proud and intelligent and kind and funny and wonderful. And that's just my parents. I love being compared to them.

"When someone says I'm like my family I'm proud. If I could someday possess half the intelligence of my mother and a quarter of the kindness of my father you would not be able find a better person. No, that does not mean I agree with the views that _died_ with them. I'm sure every single one of you in this room," her eyes swept over the masses, "has some different views from your family. Why does just having the surname 'Blackwood' automatically mean I'm not allowed to have separate views, same as you? Oh you can go on about how so-and-so discriminates against Muggleborns; well guess what; you're discriminating right back."

Jayna didn't wait to see her audience's reaction (it was varied), she was already dashing out the door, not bothering to hide her tear-stained cheeks.

Lydjah sent a look full of pure rage to Molly. "Merlin… Was there a way you could have been more hurtful?" She turned to face the hall. "Oh, and if I ever find out who played that delightful trick on Jayna this morning I will quite happily curse your limbs off." She followed Jayna's exit, snagging a piece of toast on her way past.

Lien hesitantly tapped Molly on the shoulder. The frozen Hufflepuff looked wildly round at her friend, trying to keep up the act for a little longer, before she collapsed onto Lien's shoulder.

 

James and April thought the Great Hall was rather quiet at lunchtime, even for a Hogsmeade day. He'd grabbed them some brunch from the kitchens for their trip, but was now feeling rather peckish again, and more than a little cold from the cool February air.

They sat down across from Sam and Lee, who were two of only ten people already in the Hall.

"It's really quiet isn't it?" Sam stated the obvious without a greeting, as was her custom.

"Yeah. Did something happen this morning?"

"Dunno. We weren't at breakfast." Lee explained. James' owl flew in and dropped off a letter with an agitated huff; clearly it was upset about not being able to deliver the letter on time. James rolled his eyes as he took the letter and when he saw the handwriting he practically ripped it open, skimming over the words feverishly.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"Dad says Auntie Audrey's coming in to check the pitch is still perfect in that room." James said slowly, making slow nods and waggling his eyebrows. Sam gave him a look; she'd got what he meant when he said that first 'pitch.'

"Your Auror Auntie is coming in to check the music rooms are ok?" April asked confusedly. James nodded like it was a normal assignment for Aurors.

"So, Sam, buddy of mine, I was wondering seeing as you'll undoubtedly be going back to Ravenclaw tower with your date if you could tell Blackwood and Dawson to save me the tri-"

"'Buddy of mine'? Just to get me to pass on a message to Blackwood because you're too scared to?"

"No-one said anything about being scared Sam." Sam rolled her eyes.

"I'll tell Blackwood for you chicken boy but I'd better have a mighty good snack waiting for me when I get back to Gryffindor tower." James attempted the salute that Sam had tried to teach him and failed miserably.

"I wouldn't want to talk to Blackwood right now." April said conversationally.

"What, why?" The other three asked.

"Haven't you seen the posters around the school? She's not having the greatest of days."

"What happened?"

"Seriously James? We walked past like three." James managed to keep the heat off his cheeks (his reason for not seeing them was because he had unashamedly been staring at his girlfriend's ass), just.

"Yep seriously."

"Someone poured a load of mud and blood over her this morning and then one of your cousins, one of the smaller ginger ones," Like that narrows it down. Sam thought, "had this massive shouting match with her and she ran off crying so I assume her day's pretty bad."

"How did you-" James spluttered, "I've been with you all day-" April just tapped the side of her nose and winked. None of the other people at the table got the gesture unfortunately, and politely looked away as she 'scratched her nose'.

By teatime the pictures had been removed by the teachers. Riley and Paige both had detention with Filch to the end of the month because of them (they'd actually signed the pictures; and they were supposed to be Ravenclaws). Of course, this didn't stop everyone from talking about it and no-one was surprised when neither Jayna nor Lydjah turned up to eat (except James who couldn't see why they wouldn't; eating was too important, until Sam pointed out that they might know where the kitchens are, which James disregarded as impossible).

Sam and Lee left a little earlier to go and talk to the two of them before Riley and Paige got back. Sam had to admit that she got a little distracted by Lee along the way though (it wasn't her fault that James had proposed the question of 'how many girls can we snog between the two of us in as many places as possible before we leave school?') but thankfully Riley and Paige had detention straight after dinner.

Lee said the answer to get in to the Ravenclaw common room before Sam had even finished processing the question but they were greeted by an unpleasant sight in the form of Oscar Ivers, a fourth-year Ravenclaw.

"Oi faggots are you gonna get it on in there?" He asked, jerking his hand towards the second-years dormitory. Sam started in a rage but Lee grabbed her hand and cocked her head to the side at him.

"Sorry, can you repeat that?"

"I said; are you faggots going to fuck in there?" Lee shook her head looking pityingly at him.

"Yeah that's what I thought you said. Hang on mate." He looked at her bewildered as she rummaged through her bag, stepping closer to see what she was getting. "Ah, found it!" She dug it out with one hand.

The other Ravenclaws were looking on in interest, edging closer to the three of them. To their great surprise an almighty smack sounded, making everyone in the room jump, and Oscar crumpled to the floor, unconscious, one of his teeth flying across the room to hit Patrick Patil in the eye. Lee stood there smiling, swinging her Beater's bat casually with one hand.

Sam looked at her, absurdly attracted, when Lydjah interrupted their moment. "What was that noi- Oh hey Sam, Lee- Wait; why is Ivers on the flo- Oh please say one of you two knocked him out?" Sam stepped away from Lee and gestured to her, doing jazz hands. Lee rolled her eyes, swinging the bat over her shoulder and nodding her head towards her dorm.

"I need to thank Blackwood for that Undetectable Extension Charm she put on my bag. She in there?" At the mention of Jayna the common-room had gone very quiet again. Lee calmly stepped over Oscar's prone form (Sam just stepped on him muttering a sarcastic 'sorry' as her foot went into his stomach) and walked into the dormitory, shutting the door behind her possibly-maybe-girlfriend.

Jayna was sat on Lydjah's bed (hers didn't have new sheets yet), looking tired but no longer hysterical. Mostly she looked drained. She'd had another go at washing her hair which now looked marginally better and though she put on a wide smile when she saw Sam and Lee it didn't get anywhere close to her eyes.

"How was your date?" She asked politely. Sam and Lee immediately knew she didn't want to talk about her day so they didn't ask.

"Pretty great actually." They said together, clambering onto Lee's bed. They smiled at each other and Lydjah and Jayna both simultaneously rolled their eyes.

"James wanted me to tell you that his Dad sent him a reply and that his Auntie Audrey's coming to check it out." At this Jayna deflated even more.

"Why couldn't he tell me himself?"

"Couldn't be bothered." Sam said, shrugging, not noticing Lydjah's glare until it was a little too late. "What I mean by that is-" Lee cut her off, recognising she was just going to dig herself into a hole.

"You done the DADA homework?" Jayna nodded.

"Yeah. Think I did a little too much but ah well."

"How much did you do?"

"Seven sides of parchment." Everyone else in the room gaped at her.

"She only asked for one and a half! How did you manage to do seven sides of parchment on the subject of the defensive properties of different woods?"

"I find wand-lore interesting and this sort of tied in." Jayna said, shrugging. Sam pulled out her wand from her trouser pocket and studied it.

"What can you tell me about my wand then?"

"What is it?"

"Phoenix feather, reasonably supple, twelve and a half inches, Cedar."

"Well you've got a pretty big personality for your height from your wand length and you're reasonably susceptible to change. Your wand core means you've got the biggest range of magic, though it probably won't show for a while. Obviously it's also the rarest. Your whole wand is very unusual actually. The wood…" She hummed for a moment, looking uncannily like the late Ollivander himself before grinning. "Oh yes I remember; Cedar wands go to people who are very loyal and very dangerous if the people they are fond of are hurt, which comes at a shock for people who've challenged them without thinking. Guess that applies to you quite a bit; idiots who think you're less capable than James just because you're a female often end up in the Hospital wing, no?" Sam grinned proudly.

"Really? Cool." She stared at her wand with new interest. "All Ollivander said to me in the shop was that it was a very individual wand."


	50. Of Awkward Present-Giving and Not Taking Your Own Advice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Molly's getting deep

Not much had changed when Lien's birthday rolled around. Jayna and Lydjah weren't speaking to Molly, James wasn't speaking to Jayna, and Albus and Scorpius remained blissfully unaware of the whole thing.

Jayna had given her (badly wrapped) present to Lien (the second book in the Clockwork series) outside Lien's Transfiguration lesson but had hurried away when the other first-year Hufflepuffs began to crowd round them, sure that Jayna was attempting to harm their Muggleborn friend.

Lydjah meanwhile, was talking to every single Ravenclaw she knew, determined to find out who had poured all the mud and blood over Jayna. She'd found out where the blood had come from at least; the Potions stock had been raided of its entire stock of Salamander blood. This led Lydjah to believe that it was one of the younger years' work; anyone older would have been able to conjure the blood themselves, or at least have the sense to replace the Salamander blood with a refilling Charm. Unfortunately for her investigation Professor Slughorn was almost 100 % certain that he'd seen the Salamander blood before going for lunch and everyone knew you couldn't get into the Potions store at lunch after Slughorn had put the student repelling-charm on it following the disastrous attempted prank of 2006.

"Kira Pemberly?" The first-year looked up with a sneer on her face to see the angry second-year. She was in the Ravenclaw common-room, receiving tutoring from Seraphina (the Head Girl had a strange aversion to the library).

"Yes?"

"Did you set up that 'prank' on Jayna last week?" Kira raised an eyebrow.

"No." She said clearly. Seraphina nodded.

"Yeah Lydjah she was with me for most of that night; I watched her go to her dormitory myself. Surely one of you would have woken up if she'd snuck in during the night." Seraphina explained. Lydjah cursed in her head; she'd been so sure it was Kira.

She wondered if the incident had anything to do with the warning on Lien's arm, as the marks had all but gone now. It could have been a more sinister person she supposed, like the elusive 'Night-Watchers' whom she suspected were behind the Courtyard duel in September, who'd purposefully made it look like it was done by a student to avoid suspicion. But for what purpose? If they wanted to isolate Jayna to get her surely they would have done it by now. And if they wanted to kill her so badly surely they would have done it when she'd been kidnapped in October? None of this made any sense. It was like there were two groups of people; one who wanted her dead and the other that wanted her for something else.

Lydjah wasn't sure that death was the worst thing that could happen to her friend and that worried her greatly.

 

James spotted one of his many cousins in the library. The answer to why James was in the library was an interesting one (it involved a cat, a poltergeist, a Fanged Frisbee, several paintings and very angry caretaker) but suffice to say it wasn't because he'd suddenly decided to take up reading. Almost every single ginger in the school was a Weasley (there were five currently in Hogwarts, and that wasn't counting Roxanne and Victoire who weren't ginger) and he'd been very surprised last year when he'd tapped a red-head on the shoulder assuming it was one of his cousins when it turned out to be one of his ex-girlfriends that had had her hair jinxed cherry-red. Needless to say the meeting hadn't gone well.

Since then he'd been very careful to make sure it was the right shade of ginger to be a Weasley. Right now he knew the person drooling onto the book in their sleep was Molly by her longer-than-Louis' but shorter -than-Dominque's hair. He wandered over, completely unaware that his mouth apparently had a mind of its own and was determined to get out a message.

"Apologise to Blackwood." Molly woke with a start looking blearily at James. She moved her head slightly, her cheek stuck to the page, and when she recognised he was not the librarian she shut her eyes again. James shook her shoulder and she finally woke up properly, peeling her face from the book and glaring at him.

"What do you want James?"

"Apologise to Blackwood." Said his mouth again without his permission. Molly raised her eyebrows.

"I will if you do." James glared at her. "That's what I thought."

"We did something completely different though; you said she was a Muggle hating purist-"

"You said it was her fault that her brothers died."

"What? I never said that-"

"Really? That's what I heard."

"From who?!" Molly waved a hand vaguely. James started to look panicked. "Shit! What if that's what Blackwood thinks I said?"

"You should probably clear it up with her."

"That's right I should." He marched determinedly about four steps and then whirled back round to Molly who had a cheeky grin on her face. "You little liar!" Molly grinned wider.

"Almost worked though didn't it?" There was a pause and then Molly let out a long sigh.

"I'll apologise to her. But you should too." James shook his head vehemently.

"No way. Don't you know her and her sister are planning to take over Western Portugal?" James' theory paled in the bizarre look that was sent his way from Molly.

"Right. And Lydjah's a werewolf."

"Well actually-" James began but he cut himself off when Molly sent him another look.

"The point I'm trying to make is that you want me to apologise because I accused her of being a Purist right to her face. But the reason you haven't apologised is because you don't have the guts to admit that that's what you think about her too."

"I don't think she's a Purist-" James spluttered and then realised what he said. "I'm merely annoyed that she's allowing her family's deaths to ruin everything she does." Molly quirked her eyebrows.

"You can't honestly be pissed that she's upset about her entire family dying."

"But they were bad people!" Molly suddenly looked as tired as Jayna.

"That's the point though James; they weren't. Not to her. Not to most people. The world doesn't work in shades of black or white James. We're all a little grey."


	51. Of Unsuccessful Apparations and No Evidence

James met his Auntie at the entrance to Hogwarts with more than a little glee. His next two lessons had been called off so he could help her with her 'official Auror investigation'. Professor Vector had given him a curious look when she'd told him; clearly she wanted to know what he'd found out, but he hadn't given her any answers on account of not wanting to get into any more trouble than he was already in (Filch had finally tracked him down when he left the library and got very angry over what James said was a complete accident and Filch insisted was animal cruelty).

"Hey James." His Auntie greeted calmly. Audrey was easily his favourite Auntie. After his parents, she was the one he looked up to most. His Auntie Fleur was too girly (in his opinion (though he was secretly very impressed about her participation in the Triwizard Tournament)), he didn't see his Auntie Angelina enough seeing as she was always off during the Quidditch season (though he loved all the free game tickets not to mention their intense conversations about Chasing (the position James wanted to play)) and his Auntie Hermione, while being absolutely amazing, rather terrified him. His Auntie Audrey was so cool; she was an Auror but she wasn't as weighed down with paperwork as his Dad was, which meant she often went on top secret missions. She was the complete opposite of her husband (James knew Uncle Percy meant well but he bored him to tears) but not in her views which was why they worked so well together. They always backed each other up when they got into heated debates with other people about the benefits of the Floo network vs Portkeying.

Between Harry and Audrey, James had been filled with an unquenchable desire to be an Auror when he grew up. When Sam had gone round to his house last year he'd got his parents to explain as many of the jobs that were available as they could to her so that Sam would have a little prior knowledge for when she chose her options next year. Sam had been uncommonly touched by the gesture; James was a little surprised he'd thought of it himself to be honest.

Sam had taken to the idea of being an Auror too; James suspected it was because of her Dad but as he only knew the barest details about the bloke he didn't press it.

"Hey Auntie Audrey." She wrinkled her nose; she hated the alliteration that was often accompanied with her name because of her many nieces and nephews. James knew this, and so used it even more often to be as annoying as possible.

"How's school?" She began as they started to wander up to the seventh floor. James shrugged.

"School-like." Audrey rolled her eyes.

"Descriptive James. Still going out with the Seeker?"

"Yep."

"Apologised to your brother?" James gave her a sharp look. "What, did you honestly think your Dad wouldn't tell the rest of us? There are no secrets in our family." She joked. James privately thought this was a lie because he could recall far too many times when Harry wasn't allowed to tell Ginny about his current mission; he could hear their arguments and (even worse) them making up again afterwards through the walls of their house.

"Kind of."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I haven't literally apologised to him but I've stopped being mad at him."

"Is he aware of this?" James winced and his Auntie rolled her eyes again. "Why haven't you apologised properly?"

"Haven't had the time."

"You've had two months James."

"And I've been very busy during those two months! As your presence here today indicates. Plus on top of that one of my mates- I mean one of the annoying Ravenclaws in my year group- has recently been attacked!"

"If she's not your mate how does it concern you?" Audrey asked, confused.

"Nevermind." James said, regretting bringing it up at all. Audrey sent him a weird look but he ignored her, moving the subject on. Thankfully, Audrey was quite happy to leave the sorting out of his children's squabbles to Harry (another reason James liked her so much) and didn't protest. "How's work? Anything new come in?"

Audrey sighed, blowing a piece of her dark hair from out of her eyes. She was quite short his Auntie, with crazy frizzy hair that gave Harry and James' a run for its money in 'most-out-of-control'. She always looked sunny. He didn't quite know how to describe it better than that, other than she always looked like she was experiencing a warm summer day. When she was cross or exasperated she'd blow hair out of her eyes like it was too hot to stay on her face, when she was happy or excited her hazel eyes lit up with that summer-feeling.

"No. That's the problem. It's been driving your Dad insane, and therefore the rest of us too. I'm rather glad I didn't know him in his hot-headed years; if they were anything like how he's acting now I don't know how Hermione and Ron coped. There's always dark wizards but there's always been less since Harry took the position; if fear of his name wasn't enough he's proved it again ten times over, so we don't even have that much to distract ourselves from the case. We've found some leads, of course we have, but it takes time to get in the information and Harry can't do any of it personally." Audrey seemed to have forgotten James was there but when she finished her eyes zoned back in and she forced a smile. "On the other hand, we've managed to successfully capture a grand total of forty dark wizards or witches since your Dad has had his position which was celebrated by the whole office. Hermione tried to be cross when she came down to find it in ruin but she gave up eventually saying it reminded her of Hogwarts." James smiled, easily able to picture Auntie Hermione's frazzled look.

"You missing having Molly at home?"

Audrey smiled fondly at the thought of her daughter. "I'm not entirely sure; it's a heck of a lot quieter without her rampaging around but I do miss her terribly. How is she?" When she didn't hear James' immediate neutral response she turned to him and saw him biting his lip, looking out of the corners of his eyes at her. When he saw he was caught he put on a huge smile.

"Look! We're here!" Indeed they were. Audrey felt like throttling her nephew but pushed it to the back of her mind in order to complete her mission. "Hang on." She watched, with vague fascination, as James paced back and forth in front of the blank wall.

When he passed it for the third time a shimmering set of doors appeared. He pushed them open and waved her in with a little mocking bow, to which she teasingly ruffled his hair, knowing that would cause him to straighten in annoyance.

He did so with a huff and followed her in. They were in the room from before, with the sky above and the different relaxing areas. Audrey turned, impressed.

"You made this?"

"Me and my friends. Mostly Al actually." Audrey shook her head from her musings.

"So you said that people can Apparate in here?"

"They could. We fixed it after that so we don't know." Audrey nodded her head and focused on the other side of the room, spinning in a circle.

Nothing happened.

She tried again, visualising first another place in the castle and then Hogsmeade. Nothing worked.

"Who did you get to Apparate? Can I talk to them?" James winced.

"We may have, you know, Obliviated her." Audrey leaned her head back against one of the bed posts in exasperation. "I swear it happened Audrey-"

"I know you're telling the truth James." She reassured him, "But if we ever do catch someone this won't hold up in court."

"Do our eight witness accounts not matter?" Audrey made a face.

"Well you're all underage so… Not really." James sighed. Audrey, realising her business here was done, steered him out of the room and began to ask about her daughter again. Much to her surprise, as soon as they had exited James suddenly pulled an exaggerated look at his wrist (where there was no watch though Audrey was sure he used to wear one) and cut her off.

"Oh! Look at the time! I'd better dash Auntie Audrey otherwise I'll be late for next lesson!"

"You have next lesson off-" Audrey started in bewilderment.

"Well I don't want to miss it! See you soon!" He gave her a brief hug. She patted his head, quite at a loss for what to say and he sped down the corridor, frantically trying to sort out his hair as he went.

Audrey began to laugh as he vanished round the corner, and started to make her way towards the Headmistress' office, a smile still lighting her face.


	52. Of Being On the Wrong End of a Ravenclaw's Hex and Why It Is an Extremely Bad Idea (Not That It Was Intentional)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a bit late guys; just came back from doing my Duke of Ed exped. Hope you enjoy

Sam had been pestering James all week.

It had started on Sunday at the fourth Quidditch match of the year; Ravenclaw vs Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff had won and Sam had almost knocked him out of the stands by thumping him on the back when he'd cheered. He'd given her a 'what the hell?' look but she'd merely smiled innocently, insisting she thought he was choking. He didn't miss the added whisper 'yeah, on his huge ego' from Lee.

On Monday when Dominque's birthday had lit up red in the special Remembrall Jayna had given him, visible even through all the piles of clothes he'd thrown on top of it, she'd seen it in his pocket when he'd run into the Great Hall just minutes before breakfast ended with the cold seared onto his cheeks in light pink and a Quidditch book and a card clutched in his hands. Immediately he had denied using it, knowing even as he said the words that she wouldn't believe him. He was surprised when she presented him with a list of all the dung he'd be in if it wasn't for Jayna later on that day.

_A List of the Complete and Utter Shit James Potter Would Be In If Not For One Jayna Blackwood_

_By an Exasperated Friend of Both of the Aforementioned People_

_1) Dominque would be pissed that you'd forgotten her birthday._

_2) Louis would be pissed that you'd forgotten his birthday._

_3) Al would be pissed that you'd forgotten his birthday._

_4) You would have failed the last Astronomy test._

_5) You would have failed the DADA theory test at the end of last year (I know you copied James)._

_6) You would have a burnt foot._

_7) You would have had to have broken up with Sally on your own, meaning you may not have gone out with April._

_8) You would quite possibly be dead/in captivity/grievously injured._

_9) You would have been all alone in said kidnapping, meaning you'd have no-one to share the experience with._

_10) You wouldn't have experienced that mostly awesome party on her birthday._

_11) You wouldn't have found out about me being bi because telling her gave me the confidence to go out with Lee._

_SO GO FUCKING APOLOGISE_

Unfortunately, the list didn't have quite the effect Sam wanted as all James got out of it was that Sam had told Jayna before him which made him extremely pissed.

On Tuesday Sam tried again by physically shoving him into Jayna every time they passed her. It didn't matter if Sam didn't appear to be in the corridor at the time; one moment it was normal and the next he'd be sprawling on top of the person he least wanted to knock over at the present time. Worst of all, he could never find Sam to blame it on her, so Jayna just thought he was being a prat.

On Wednesday Molly apologised to Jayna in front of most of the school. It was long and very heartfelt. Jayna had regarded her for a long moment and then slowly nodded; smiling the first genuine smile she'd given in weeks. All the while, Sam had been nudging James in a sort of 'that's what you should be doing' way. It was great multi-tasking seeing as she was kissing her girlfriend at the same time.

Thursday had left him notes everywhere with weird quotes about being the 'bigger person' and the 'better man'. They had confused him; clearly he was the bigger person; he had an inch on Jayna, and he was obviously the better man considering Jayna was female.

On Friday he was very wary as he greeted Sam for breakfast. She didn't say anything about it all day until they were walking back to Gryffindor tower after dinner.

"Oh will you just apologise?!" She exploded suddenly, startling James who thought they'd be walking back in companionable silence. Instantly his good mood had faltered and his mouth set into a defiant pout.

"I don't want to be friends with a person who deals with their demons by being a stuck up arse!" He retorted. Sam raised her eyebrows, confused. He was about to elaborate when there was a flash of light and a dull pain started in his eyes as his face smashed into the ground.

He woke slowly to white and the unmistakeable flash of a camera. He was lying down in a bed in the Hospital Wing, the curtains drawn around him. The curtains didn't seem to stop his best friend though, who was stood at the foot of the bed, an old-fashioned camera in her hands which emitted another flash as he came into consciousness, chortling happily at the photos as they printed out.

James narrowed his eyes at her which caused her to burst into even louder hysterics and sit down on the end of his bed, stifling her giggles in his bed sheets.

"You kinda deserved that one mate." James moved his memories back sluggishly but couldn't remember anything past their conversation about Jayna. Sam picked up the mirror by his bed, keeping it turned away from him.

"What happened?" In response, biting her lip in anticipation, she turned the mirror round to face him. His eyes would have widened in horror, if not for the fact he couldn't open them much further than he had already, on account of the conjunctivitis curse that had been inflicted on them. He was rather glad of being unable to take in his full appearance though, because what little he could see was horrifying.

His hair was gone. Completely, utterly, gone. In its place were two large antlers, protruding from his bald head. To add insult to injury, the antlers were in the Ravenclaw house colours. James groaned and covered his face with one hand using the other to swipe the mirror away. Sam could barely keep in her chuckles. "Maybe you shouldn't be saying bad stuff about Jayna in an empty corridor just as she came out of the bathroom."

James sulked. "Did she at least get a detention?" He could live with the hexes if it meant he'd been the one to annoy the angelic Jayna Blackwood into attacking him.

"Empty corridor James." Sam reiterated, James spluttered indignantly.

" _You_ were there!" Sam shrugged.

"I didn't see anything; my gaze happened to direct itself to the ceiling at that very point and it could have been anyone who hexed you." James shot her an incredulous look.

"You said me, you and Jayna were the only people in the corridor!"

"When I last looked." Sam pointed out, her eyebrows rising entirely too high for it to be sincere. "We can't go accusing her when anyone could have just sprung out from behind a portrait and hexed you." James could not believe the level of lies that his friend was spewing.

"From behind a portrait? Really Sam? Aren't you supposed to be on my side?" Before she could answer Madam Longbottom threw open the curtains, a vial of nasty looking potion in her hand. James and Sam both made a face.

"Miss Andrews I'm afraid you'd better leave Mr Potter to sleep now and come and collect him in the morning." She passed the potion to 'Mr Potter' without looking at him. James personally thought he hadn't done anything recently to annoy the Matron so didn't understand her coldness. As she stepped out to leave she glanced at James' face and gave a short burst of laughter before clapping a hand over her mouth, muttering embarrassed apologies as she left. James felt his cheeks heat up as Sam joined in the laughter, and gulped down the potion while glaring at her.

After her giggles had subsided Sam shook her head amusedly at him. "She did a number on you mate." James smirked triumphantly, pointing a sleepy finger at her.

"So you admit she did it!"

"Did what?" Sam asked innocently, winking at him as she drew the curtains around his bed and left him to sleep away the wound to his ego.


	53. Of More Parties and Best Friends Who Have Had Enough of Your Shit

Lydjah and Sam weren't the most similar of people. They had a lot of unusual things in common (sleeping without quilts, a love for dogs, long mostly blonde hair and a high pain threshold for example) but they had more differences.

Sam talked with her fists; Lydjah could charm anyone with a single sentence. Lydjah needed glasses for reading; Sam had perfect vision. Sam had a sibling; Lydjah was an only child. Lydjah liked coffee; Sam liked tea. Sam was constantly energetic; Lydjah never fully woke up. Lydjah wore at least five bracelets at all times; Sam had only worn one piece of jewellery voluntarily in her entire life; the plain silver snitch necklace Mrs Potter had given her for their Christmas party last year. Sam had a good memory; Lydjah frequently forgot all her homework. Sam was immature; Lydjah only acted like it. Lydjah was a thinker; Sam was a doer. Lydjah was clever; Sam was brave.

And yet one fact had woken Lydjah up and set her acting without thinking, and made Sam actually come up with a plan and drink coffee to stay awake.

The fact was; both of their best friends were utter idiots.

So Sam and Lydjah colluded, plotted and planned for weeks, occasionally calling in Lee for her input, until they'd come up with a fool-proof plan. Of course, both Jayna and James had noted their absence with worry but both of their prides had stopped them from asking.

 

Molly's birthday party had started excellently. It was being held in Gryffindor tower (because where else) and Molly was pretty sure half the school had turned out for it.

Derrick Dabney was paying almost no attention to his date; Hazel Ilbert (Merlin knows why he'd go out with such a ditz if he could have had Seraphina), as he stared with jealously clear in his gaze at the two Head students talking on the staircase. Seraphina was gesturing animatedly with her wand, shooting out a few sparks in her excitement. She blushed and hit her forehead with one hand only for Luke Kingston to gently remove it with a sweet smile. She leaned her head on his shoulder with a grin and everyone in the room could sense Luke's utter contentment.

"It's rather sickening how much he loves her no?" The birthday girl remarked teasingly to Jayna who was stood beside her. It had been a little awkward between them for a while but Molly thought they were getting back on track. Jayna shrugged.

"It's sweet, if a little stalkerish on his part." She hummed quietly to the music, tapping her nails on her Butterbeer bottle at the same time.

"How about you Miss Birthday Girl?" Molly looked up to see her cousin Fred extending a hand towards her, intending to help her up onto the stage. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"How likely am I to end up in the Hospital Wing if I take that hand?" Fred bit his lip sheepishly.

"Less than 50%?" Molly rolled her eyes but took the hand all the same as the crowd cheered behind her.

On the stage she had an excellent view of the rest of the room. Sam and Lydjah were talking amongst themselves about who knew what. Lee was in a friendly (ish; it was never friendly with Lee) argument with Max Underwood. Caleb Nuttal and Maggie Dabney were using the distraction of Fred and Roxanne's show to snog in one of the armchairs by the fire. Maggie was a tiny little thing but unbelievably gorgeous with lots of light freckles and very grass-green eyes. Her boyfriend, Caleb, was even more gorgeous if possible; he looked like he belonged riding a killer wave in Australia with light brown hair and tanned skin. Victoire, Chloe and Dominque were manning the drinks station and by the look of Victoire's red cheeks Molly guessed they were talking about Teddy.

Killian Nash was sat rubbing the back of his neck sadly, trying not to look too dejected, in the other armchair. Several people were watching him in adoration; even when pissed, angry and upset, Killian was bloody gorgeous. He had very roguish good looks; he looked like a fantastic one-night stand (and he had been many) but not someone who'd be interested in dating. And yet for Emma Lacy, he was trying to be. Everyone saw Emma and him in the Great Hall that morning; they'd had some massive argument about her ex-boyfriend and his best friend, Neal Quigg (it was a wonder they were still friends seeing as Killian was almost as obvious about his affection for Emma as Luke was for Seraphina), and in the middle of it Emma had suddenly kissed him (the jury was still out on whether it was a heat of the moment thing or just to get him to shut up) before storming out of the Hall again. He was the least likely person to turn down a party though (he specialised in drunken games and, oddly, Astronomy) so he felt he had to be there, despite everyone sending him pitying looks if he blinked too quickly.

Natasha Oliver was desperately trying to convince anyone she could find to shut the party down as it went against her Prefect regulations. When she saw her fellow Gryffindor Prefects; Killian (Merlin knows why he was made a Prefect though there was some speculation that he'd slept with Professor Avisana to get her to agree after he found out Emma was going to be one for Ravenclaw), Victoire, Luke, Steve Raines and Helen Upton (April's older sister), joining in she gave up with a huff and flew back up the staircase.

Molly turned back to Fred. "I said I'd apologise for your hair Molly dear so if you would?" He passed her a comb. Molly sent a quick prayer up to Merlin for safety and then began brushing her hair. She heard a few gasps of amazement as she finished and then the applauding started. Fred passed her a mirror and Molly held it up so she could see her reflection, her mouth forming a perfect 'o'.

Her short mismatched crazy orange hair was now bouncing in light frizzes round her face and midway down her back and had gone darker red, more auburn. She looked a lot like her mother. She loved it.

"Thank you!" She squealed, handing the mirror back. Fred laughed. It was only then that Molly noticed the spider crawling down her forehead. She let out another shriek, for a completely different reason, and swatted it away. The movement made the centipede that was halfway down her arm fall onto her foot. The millipede on her scalp moved hurriedly towards the back of her head, to meet up with the worm that was slowly slithering up her neck.

Molly shrieked again, begging Fred to get rid of them. Unfortunately, he was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his cheeks, as was most of the party, and so was no help.

Molly, on the verge of tears herself, was suddenly saved by Sam who quickly ran up the steps, removed the bugs and flung them to the floor in disgust before giving Molly a quick once-over to check she was ok. Fred, clearly realising he was about to be murdered by his cousin, quickly bade the room goodnight and disappeared from view, most likely with one of his father's infamous invisible hats. The crowd groaned in disappointment but quickly amused themselves by turning to watch Mark Eads' drunk attempts to serenade the love of his life; Lena Farnham. The problem was Lena Farnham was currently in the Hospital Wing with the flu, and Mark was actually deafening Lydjah's cousin, Alfie Newell.

Helen Upton walked over to Sam, with a shy smile on her face. "I wanted to say thank you." Sam wracked her brains to think of what she'd done to deserve thanks from this girl that she only knew the name of because she was a Prefect that Sam needed to avoid if she wanted to sneak out anywhere.

"What for?" She asked finally, giving up.

"Well the fact that you've been going out with Lee… It gave me the confidence to ask Aline out." Sam's eyes widened in astonishment. The Uptons were well known for their dislike of anything 'out of the ordinary'. To be fair, she knew that April was more open-minded than her parents, but she'd assumed she was the black sheep of the family, and vague tolerance was the closest she'd ever get to James' current girlfriend. Apparently her sister was even more different, especially as Aline Xun was originally Chinese too. At Sam's look Helen smiled sheepishly. "I haven't told my parents yet, I know they won't take it well so I'm planning on holing up at Hogwarts for as long as possible." Sam smiled lightly.

"Well no problem. Just remember if your family takes it really badly don't you dare give in to their pressure if Aline's who you want to be with." Helen's grin got wider.

"Oh she is." Their conversation was interrupted by Lydjah leaning into Sam's ear and whispering 'thirty seconds'.

"If you'll excuse me." Sam said politely, forgetting to sound like her usual self in her hurry. She waltzed off into the crowd. James was chatting casually with his girlfriend; a Butterbeer in one hand. How could she get him to where she wanted?

Of course!

"NIFFLERS!" James' head snapped up immediately, his eyes widening in fright. April looked to be halfway through asking what was wrong by the time Sam had gotten out of the portrait hole, sprinting after James' lightning escape.

The Niffler plan was simple. They'd gone into the Forbidden Forest in the last week of term last year, determined to prove their bravery. The moment the castle was no longer visible behind them however, a Niffler (herd? Group? Pride?) came sniffling out of the forest towards them.

To hear James tell the story, you would've thought that there was about a hundred Nifflers who were hungry for blood (specifically James') with teeth sharper than a shark's, and they'd barely escaped with their lives.

What had actually happened was seven baby Nifflers (they still didn't know if they had parents or were just lost) ambled peacefully into the clearing they were in. Sam had knelt down by one of them and patted it gently. It had responded by curling up in her palm and nuzzling her fingers. Encouraged by their friendly attitude, James had attempted to do the same. Unfortunately for him, James had been given a new watch for Christmas that year and was very proud of its shiny appearance. The Nifflers, equally impressed, had ripped it off his wrist and made off with it, causing the tiniest of cuts on the top of his hand.

Since then, James had been terrified of the creatures, most probably because he had actually taught himself to believe his own story, and when he'd found out some wizards kept them as pets he'd got only more paranoid (even though they weren't allowed in Hogwarts). He'd demanded that they make up an escape plan if Nifflers were ever to try to attack him again, and Sam had indulged him. The plan was simple; run away and regroup by the statue of Lachlan the Lanky unless that was where they'd been attacked in which case run to the Gryffindor Common Room and meet in the boys' dormitories.

The statue was conveniently right where Sam wanted James to end up so that their plan could commence.

 

Lydjah saddled over to Jayna after whispering in Sam's ear. Oh it was all good and well saying that they had thirty seconds all mysteriously, but how on earth was she going to get Jayna anywhere in thirty seconds?

Well, of course, she could shout 'fire' but she'd never do that considering she found it highly unlikely Jayna would ever forgive her if she did. She'd opened her mouth to say something, still not sure of what it was going to be, when the loudest yell of 'Nifflers!' went up from somewhere in the crowd.

Lydjah felt the air whoosh past her as James sped out of the Common Room faster than a bullet. She and Jayna gaped at the portrait hole as Sam hurried after her best friend.

"Do you think he's alright?" Jayna asked quietly.

"What?" Merlin, this would be easier than she thought. Jayna's eyes flashed with anger and she crossed her arms tightly.

"I mean- what is that prat doing shoving past me like that?" Lydjah rolled her eyes.

"I think he was scared of the Nifflers."

"Nifflers?!" Jayna's voice went up an octave. Lydjah had a eureka moment. _Obviously!_ She thought, _Jayna was 'mildly put-off' (absolutely bloody terrified) of Nifflers._

On the last day of term at the end of their first year Lydjah and Jayna had been hanging round the lake, dipping their toes into the water and squealing at the idea of merpeople dragging them down into the depths when seven Nifflers had appeared in the grass before them, running hurriedly from the direction of the forest. One of them had something shiny already in its mouth but the other six seemed quite depressed that they hadn't got anything.

Now, Jayna was many things but an animal-lover wasn't one of them. She didn't hate them or anything, she loved her owl actually (most probably because it could look after itself), but she didn't understand how people could spend hours playing with just a cat or a dog. Therefore, when these Nifflers arrived, Jayna had not the slightest clue that you weren't supposed to show them anything shiny, as she'd never been inclined to learn anything about magical creatures.

Despite Lydjah's protests afterwards ('Nifflers only turn aggressive if they something shiny Jayna!') Jayna was convinced that the Nifflers had come out of the forest deliberately to steal her favourite silver-tipped quill, and attempt to kill her in the process. Unfortunately for Jayna, she'd brought her hand that was holding the quill up to her face in a reflexive action when the Niffler first lunged, and so its teeth sunk a little into her collarbone.

It wasn't until they got to the Hospital Wing and saw Madam Longbottom's reaction that they realised the mark looked very much like a hickey. Lydjah had joked about it all the way to King's Cross Station on how Jayna's first love-bite was from a Niffler. Needless to say, Jayna wasn't very amused.

"Yeah these huge ones got loose in the crowd somewhere."

"Ew!" Jayna shrieked, to the amusement of Lydjah. "Merlin! Please can we leave?" Lydjah bit her lip to keep from smiling.

"Yeah sure. Come with me." Grabbing her friend by the hand she yanked her out of the door and down to where the plan was supposed to commence… Ten seconds ago. Shit.

 

"What the Hell just happened?" James asked, not expecting an answer from the empty room. He appeared to be sat in a mostly pitch-black, extremely cramped, room, the only light coming from the crack under the doorknob (which was locked; he'd checked), surrounded by different cleaning supplies.

"Potter?" He let out a rather high-pitched squeak and tumbled off the bucket he was sitting on.

"Blackwood?"

"Where are you?"

"Over here."

"Here-"

"Ow, Merlin! That's my eye!"

"Sorry!" Jayna cleared the floor underneath her and sat down, straining her eyes to pick out James' features in the inky blackness.

"Over here, you lemon." James said, exasperated. Jayna turned her head a little to the right and saw that she was sitting uncomfortably close to a certain crazy-haired Potter. She scooted back a little and found she could just about recognise his face but not very well.

"What happened then?" Jayna echoed his question from before.

"I don't know. I was meeting Sam by the statue of Lachlan the Lanky and then when I arrived I'm pretty sure she confounded me, took my wand and shoved me in this broom cupboard." He finished, confused with the turn of events even as he relayed it.

"Huh."

"Huh, what?"

"Huh; that's exactly what happened to me too, though I wasn't meeting Sam by the statue; Lydjah was dragging me here for some reason."

"Bloody Nifflers." They said at the same time, then looked up and shared a weird look.

"I don't even want to know." James said and Jayna nodded, wholeheartedly agreeing.

"So why did they lock us in this cupboard?" Jayna mused. James rolled his eyes.

"Isn't it obvious? They want us to 'make-up'." He said sarcastically, making inverted commas with his fingers. Jayna huffed and they sat in silence for a moment. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well; aren't you going to apologise?" Jayna shot him a highly incredulous look that he could make out even in the dim.

" _I'm_ the one that needs to apologise?"

"You landed me in the Hospital Wing!"

"You have no proof of that!" Jayna reminded him triumphantly, and then settled her features into a stubborn pout. "Besides; you deserved it." She finished, under her breath but loud enough for him to hear. James rolled his eyes again.

"Doesn't change the fact it happened."

"And it doesn't change what you said at my party either."

"I apologised for that! The day after it happened!"

"Then why have you been acting all horrible to me then?!"

"Because you said that you were trying to change and then bam! You're best friends with your Muggleborn hating sister again!"

"One, it is not up to you who I'm friends with. Two, my sister doesn't hate Muggleborns. She's confused, angry and upset, plus, not wanting to add to the stereotype, but she is in the house with the highest proportion of Pureblood supremacists which probably doesn't help at all. I don't agree with her but I've tried living without her support and I wasn't doing very well. Can't you see how much happier I've become since making-up with her? And three, you have no right to judge me anyway seeing as you hardly even know me!"

"Give me a chance to know you then!" James shouted back, breathing heavily, not quite registering the words until he'd said them. Jayna blinked at him a few times then reached slowly into her pocket and drew out a small piece of paper. "What's that?" A cheeky smile graced Jayna's lips.

"The photo your sneaky camera took when I opened my birthday 'present' from you." James eyes lit up with delight.

"You used either of them yet Blackwood? Huh, huh?" He nudged her playfully and she hit him on the arm as she often did with Lydjah.

"No!"

"Did I guess your size right?" He asked, waggling his eyebrows. Jayna rolled her eyes.

"As if you didn't get Sam to sneak into the dormitories and read one of the labels on my bras." James blinked.

"Wait, you mean I actually guessed your size right?"

"Well, yeah."

"Oh." He raised his eyebrows. "Not bad Blackwood." She swotted at him again.

"Do you want to see the photo or not?" He immediately pulled a contrite expression and she laughed as she passed it over.

As soon as he saw the picture he roared with laughter, clutching his sides in mirth. "Merlin! Your face!" Jayna did look like a startled hen in the picture. It was a Wizarding one, so it spanned three seconds; one was her looking vaguely hopeful, the next confused, and the third startled, fading into a cross between a laugh and a scowl.

He reluctantly passed the photo back after a minute, wiping the laughter-induced tears from his cheeks.

"What do you want to know then?" James pondered.

"Do you speak French? You know because your family…" Jayna didn't flinch away from the mention of her family, she actually laughed. "What?"

"Out of all the things you could have asked me, and 'do you speak French?' is what you went for?" James shrugged. "Yes I am fluent in French. Êtes-vous?"

James frowned, shifting through his hazy memories of the holiday in France they went on when he was eight. "Oh! No; no I am not; I only know English and vague tourist words from a few countries." Jayna smiled mischievously.

"Eso es desafortunado."

"That wasn't French."

"Non erat et nihili; Hispanis, quod fuit."

"What was that?" Jayna laughed at his poor confused face.

"That was French then Spanish then Latin my monolingual friend."

"You're fluent in four languages?!"

"No. I'm fluent in French and English. Latin is not something you can really be fluent in seeing as you can't learn how to speak it anymore. And I'm still learning Spanish."

"Off who?"

"Professor Casales. You know, the Music Professor? She's originally from Spain and she was quite happy to teach me when I asked."

"When do you have time to do this?"

"I have a free on the Thursday of the first week's timetable and then Saturday on the second week when fourth lesson would be."

"I thought you did Tutoring then." Jayna gave him a surprised look for knowing about her Tutoring.

"No; that's after dinner on Mondays and Tuesdays."

"What do you Tutor?"

"Potions. And Charms. And Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"Bloody Merlin." He said, appraisingly. She blushed. "Who do you Tutor?" She didn't get a chance to answer as just then the door was flung open by Sam and Lydjah both who were looking warily into the room. When they saw their two best friends were having a calm and civil conversation they both groaned.

"Does that mean neither of us win?" Sam stropped.

"I thought you at least would've slapped him." Lydjah frowned, glaring disappointedly at Jayna. Both of them gaped at her in astonishment.

"You made bets on how much we'd fight?" James asked. Lydjah shook her head, looking indignant.

"No! Of course not!" They both relaxed slightly. "We bet on how much Jayna would beat you up!" Jayna sniggered and James narrowed his eyes at her. She shrugged in response.

Jayna stood to leave, making a slight protesting noise as her leg struggled to support her weight with pins and needles shooting up and down it. James caught hold of her wrist in order to steady her.

She turned back to face him, her eyebrows arching to ask what he wanted. "Blackwood?"

"Oui?"

"Do you think you could possibly give me a hand in Potions?" It's not that James was bad at Potions; he was resting comfortably in the middle of the class, but he wanted to be better than average at it, and who better to ask than the teacher's-pet? Potions wasn't really Jayna's passion; she loved making the Potions and such but she didn't have that flair for making up her own instructions; she followed the ones given to the letter and was rather scared of deviating from them, but as they weren't really making potions that you could make your own instructions as of yet, Jayna was near the top of the class. Lydjah was even better than Jayna in Potions, though it still wasn't her passion, but she was about as likely to agree to tutor him as suddenly admit to being in love with Professor Binns.

Jayna grinned. "As well as Astronomy? Don't think I haven't noticed your extra nice attitude just before we give the homework in." James had the grace to look sheepish. "I don't know why you're bothered honestly; Professor Sinistra feels so guilty for the thing in October that she'll give you a pass grade just for handing in a blank sheet of parchment. Anyway, I'll help you in both if you'd like but I'm not just letting you copy my homework ok? We're doing it properly."

"Sounds good."

Her tone immediately turned business like. "What day can you do?"

"Erm…"

"Well how about that free we both have on Wednesdays before dinner?"

"Sounds good." He mentally berated himself for saying the same response twice. Jayna didn't seem to notice.

"Alright. See you later Potter." She winked as she walked out and he laughed, waiting until Lydjah and her had disappeared round the corner before turning to Sam.

"Help; my foot's trapped in a bucket and I can't move." Sam stared at him for a full ten seconds before bursting into laughter and walking out, letting the door swing shut behind her to the sound of James' cursing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am definitely not fluent in any language other than English I apologise I just wanted to throw in my favourite Spanish word. Jayna however...


	54. Of Pregnant Pauses and Deteriorating Sisterly Affection

James was not the kind of person who could sleep through a storm. He was constantly sleeping lightly, only vaguely touching on the land of dreams before waking himself up again. He usually went to sleep for about three hours at a time, woke up, and then went back to sleep for another three hours and so on until he felt rested enough. He was a morning person, but not with a hangover, and not to the extent where he hated lie-ins.

That night was no different. When he'd finally hobbled back up the stairs (the party had ended by then) after getting the bucket magically removed from his foot by Madam Longbottom (she hadn't even asked for an explanation; she'd merely covered her eyes with one delicate hand and flicked her wand with the other) he'd fallen pretty quickly into sleep, but had woken up at about one filled with a restless desire to move. Not wanting to wake his dorm-mates he'd edged carefully out of his bed and down the stairs only turning around when he'd reached the Common Room.

While he didn't want to go back to sleep, he didn't really want to go wandering around the castle either (perhaps because of his regularly denied but still existing fear of what lay in the dark) and settled instead for stalking over to the fire intending on sitting down on one of the sofas. To his surprise, the sofa was already occupied by a slightly snoring Jayna Blackwood.

She looked very different when asleep; Jayna's face was rarely not lit with emotion (at him it was mostly annoyance unfortunately) but when she was asleep she looked totally blank. Not necessarily at rest, because her eyes still flickered under her eyelids and her expression wasn't exactly peaceful but it was completely neutral. He didn't like it.

"Jayna?" He shook her shoulder gently and she opened her eyes slowly, not really seeming surprised to see him there. She yawned and sat up, the blanket she'd dragged from the back of the sofa falling off her. he winced as he took in the bags under her eyes; their new amity was rather tentative and he didn't want to ruin it just be waking her up when she really needed sleep. Well too late now. "How did you manage to get in here?"

"Molly gave us the password for the party remember? Because of course she couldn't have broken the 'No-Hufflepuffs allowed in the Hufflepuff Common room' rule. It's really rather discriminative don't you think-" He cut across her rambling.

" _Why_ did you come in here?" She chewed over her thoughts for a second, and later would blame blurting out her troubles on the late hour (as has already been observed; Jayna got increasingly less guarded the later it got).

"I'm kind of scared of staying too long in my own bed after what happened in February. I mean they never found out who it was." She said meekly, rubbing her nose. James frowned at her.

"That's not the reason you're here."

"Excuse me?"

"You've been sleeping in the Room of Requirement for the past month; you wouldn't need to come in here." Jayna's cheeks coloured slightly at being caught lying (or partially lying at least).

"Fine; it's because my sister would be appalled." She stuck her chin out defiantly towards the fire as she said this, refusing to look at him. He blinked slightly in surprise and then fell down on the sofa next to her.

"What's the deal with your sister now? You were defending her just a few hours ago." Jayna sighed and bit her lip and to James' surprise looked as if she was about to cry. Jayna cried for one of only three reasons; one; she was in physical pain, two; she was frustrated but couldn't take it out on anything so ended up breaking down which only made her more frustrated and therefore more likely to cry or three; someone she cared about had hurt her feelings. While James wasn't entirely aware of this fact, he could guess that this particular episode fell into the latter category and the person she cared about in this case was her sister.

"She's not forcing her beliefs down my throat but I know she thinks that my current philosophy on the world is just some phase I'm going through, and I'll come round to the 'right' way of thinking eventually." James waited, knowing that wasn't all of it. Jayna choked out something between a sob and a laugh and a tear splashed onto her hand as she spoke. "I'm terrified Potter." She brought her hand up to eye-level so he could see the slight shakes that were running down it, and did the half-laugh half-sob again. "I'm scared," She said the word scathingly like she couldn't believe that she wasn't made of stronger stuff, "that the longer I spend with her the more likely I am to lose everything I've built up in the last few months. I love seeing her regularly again, but she's like some kind of addictive poison. Merlin that sounded wrong didn't it?" James chuckled slightly with her. "What I mean is that while I know spending time with her is weakening what I believe to be my finally-good morals, I can't just abandon her either, and not just because she's the only family I have left."

"What's keeping her hell-bent on these beliefs? If she's a tiny bit similar to you she's intelligent enough to know that the Pureblood propaganda is based on twisted facts and if you can get over your ridiculous pride and admit you were wrong she sure as hell can." Jayna frowned.

"Did you just give me a backhanded compliment?" James shrugged, clearly still intent on her answering his question. Jayna had stopped crying now, thank Merlin, but she'd gone back to looking exhausted. She gave a tired laugh. "She has this insane theory that what happened to our family in the summer wasn't an accident even though the court decided it was." That was Jayna's problem, James decided. She trusted authority too much, and had no interest in proving the conclusion they made was true if it was a conclusion she liked. She probably knew, somewhere deep inside, that there was something a little strange about her family's deaths, but James also knew that if she hadn't addressed this knowledge she probably wasn't ready for it yet.

There was a long pause, during which James Potter made about a million and fifty-two arguments with himself before his mouth decided for him.

"What if I told you she was right?"

His eyes widened with hers; he'd phrased it wrong; she'd freak out; he'd ruined everything, and then Flynn Yoxall tumbled down the boys-staircase and woke up with a start, disorientated and confused, slowly coming to the conclusion that he'd forgotten to put the locking charm on the door to stop him wandering around, as he often did, in his sleep.

Jayna jumped up, momentarily pushing what James had said out of her mind in her panic not to be caught after-curfew in someone else's Common Room. She said not a word to him as she dashed out in the direction of the Room of Requirement and James was left wondering what on earth he was going to do when she stopped running away from him.


	55. Of Disgusting Cousins (In James' Opinion) and Their Antics

The Easter holidays included a number of things, and also was entirely empty of others. First and foremost, it was completely bereft of opportunities for James to explain to Jayna what he'd meant seeing as she'd gone to Lydjah's for the holidays in order to finally put the tickets they'd bought her in January to good use.

Secondly, it was full of chocolate, which James was unbelievably excited about. James loved chocolate and at Easter he got every kind that he liked. His favourite sweet thing could not technically be classed as chocolate, but his family was very broad-minded with this point and he'd woken up on Easter Sunday with a small mountain of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. Of course, Sam had thought it would be hilarious to sneak into the boys' dormitories in the early hours of the morning and vanish all the boxes so the beans went everywhere, but he quite liked occasionally finding a stray snack down the side of his bed, much to Sam's horror.

He loved the uncertainty of not knowing what flavour you were going to get, and was more excited than disgusted when he got a new horrendous flavour; he was convinced he'd discover all of them sometime; he had a list of all the different flavours pinned by his bed.

The third thing the holidays contained, and the only one James was currently concerned about, was Teddy Lupin's birthday, the 4th of April, and it had James walking calmly to the Owlery, his present for the man he considered, if not his older brother, at least another one of his multitude of cousins, considerately wrapped and tucked under his arm. It upset him that Teddy and him had never attended Hogwarts at the same time, but at least that meant he'd got all the truths of Hogwarts (no the exams weren't 'ok' and witches were bloody terrifying, girlfriends even more so) before his older cousins had started to tone them down as not to scare eleven year-old James Potter. He had heard Dominque discussing this with Louis and had indignantly burst out of his hiding place insisting he was going to be put in Gryffindor and therefore wasn't scared of anything. However, his point was quite lost on his cousins who got extremely cross that he was eavesdropping on them (what else was he supposed to do on a Tuesday? Everyone knows Tuesday's are boring) and spent the rest of the day chasing James around the place, not that they ever found him as he had a fantastic habit of hiding under the floorboards (he didn't fit anymore unfortunately).

Anyway, for once, James had remembered a birthday that wasn't in Jayna's Christmas gift to him, though he had promptly added it to the Remembrall, which had been reinstated in its place on his bedside table. The reason for this recollection had been when he'd flicked through a rather dull book catalogue that he'd found in the Gryffindor Common Room (it belonged to Jayna; she'd left it there when she'd ran out of the room) and found a vaguely interesting synopsis of a book that, upon reading, immediately thought Teddy would like. He'd filed it away for future reference, and then realised that Teddy had to have a birthday at some point and had promptly gone upstairs, collected all of his letters (he kept all of them) and searched through them all (he really should organise them better but organisation and James Potter did not go well together) until he'd found a letter from Teddy thanking him for his birthday present, dated the 5th of April. James thought he'd better send it off on the 4th just in case Teddy's reply had been late last year, and had quickly penned an order to the bookshop in Hogsmeade.

Teddy Lupin was a great lover of books, despite being banned from the library five times in his years at Hogwarts; the last time for managing somehow to trip over a stack of books that had been floating at his chest level, therefore barrelling his head into the nearest shelf, that just had to knock over six entire bookshelves, including one in the Restricted Section.

Teddy was currently travelling the world, apparently trying to work out what he wanted to do career-wise though James privately thought he didn't want to be tied down with a job until he'd dragged Victoire around all these great places with him. James got postcards from him all the time, at the moment they were all from Europe, filled with all sorts of crazy adventures. When Bellatrix Lestrange had died all the money in the Lestrange vault had originally meant to have gone to Narcissa but, as Narcissa had no need of it, she'd given it to her older sister, Andromeda, as a gesture of good faith. The two sisters would never be friends, too much bad blood between them for that, but as Andromeda's health decreased her grudges seemed to disperse with it; she'd even had Narcissa round for dinner once, though she still refused to see Lucius. The money she'd inherited (plus the huge sum of money that Harry had given him in order to buy a property (though his Godfather privately confessed he didn't really care what Teddy used it for just that Andromeda wouldn't have let him give it had he not given a valid reason)) gave Teddy more options than he knew what to do with, especially as the only thing about his future he was sure about; Victoire, had nothing to do with money.

James thought Teddy should open a bookshop; he thought he'd be perfect for the job; plus he could employ Victoire once she left school and then they'd have an excuse to be alone without Uncle Bill turning up at all the most inappropriate moments (though this had lessened since Victoire had become of age). He'd suggested this to Teddy, who'd been rather shocked at the perceptive idea, but was still content to just relax and broaden his horizons before he got a job.

When he reached the Owlery it was to find a rather melancholy Victoire sending away her own present.

"Hey Vicky." James said, already ducking in preparation for the hex that was about to come his way. Victoire seemed rather furious that it had missed but contented herself by copying one of her mother's piercing stares at him.

"Never call me Vicky." James just winked and strolled over to her, whistling quickly for his owl. Victoire rolled her eyes at her cocky cousin and retaliated by ruffling his hair. James squawked, not unlike his owl, and batted her hands away yelping. Victoire smothered her giggles and raised an eyebrow. "Truce?" She offered a hand. James looked at the proffered hand suspiciously before shaking it quickly once.

"Truce." All of James' cousins played the game Truce with him; there was no stopping him attempting to do something annoying at least once every time you saw him so the best way to end the game without bloodshed was to let him do whatever, retaliate and quickly call up Truce. This strategy worked most of the time though James insisted some pranks deserved more retaliation before he'd settle for a truce. Of course, if you retaliated too much then he'd be allowed another prank.

All nine of his first cousins (Dudley and Megan obviously had not experienced the game) and his honorary cousins; Teddy and the Scamander twins (Lysander and Lorcan) pretended to hate the game though most of them did secretly like it; at least no-one could ever say that James Potter was boring.

"What are you doing up here?" Victoire asked curiously as James attached Teddy's present to his owl.

"Sending Teddy a birthday present." Victoire's eyes widened with genuine surprise.

" _You_ remembered it's his birthday today?" James narrowed his eyes playfully.

"What do you mean 'you'?"

"I'm not going to dignify that question with a response." Victoire said flatly, James grinned.

"I got you your present eventually!"

"It was three years late!" James shrugged.

"Better late than never." There was a comfortable silence for a second. "So, the train…?" Victoire raised her eyebrows and James found himself feeling rather nauseous as he recalled the memory, thank Merlin he was the least likely candidate to become a Prefect; he could never deal with snogging couples. "Are you and Teddy dating?" Victoire gaped at him for a full minute and then slowly reached her hand out and tapped his head. "What are you doing?"

"I was checking to see if you actually had a brain."

"What?"

"We've been going out for three years now you bloody idiot!" James' eyes widened with horrified realisation (a hundred incidents and whispered conversations finally made sense to him), then narrowed again.

"Ew!" Victoire smiled a little wickedly and leaned in, right to his face.

"Guess what little cousin?"

"What?"

"I think my teddybear is the most gorgeous, sexiest man I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and if I was you I'd avoid his room from now on." James' horror-struck expression was quite enough retaliation for the train journey in September and she walked calmly out of the Owlery, hips swinging as she whistled cheerily.

James felt rather ill for the rest of the day.


	56. Of Avoidance and Short-Lived Happiness

There were two irrefutable facts that James Potter knew about Jayna Blackwood. The rest, as far as he was concerned, could be some elaborate plan of hers. The first was that she definitely deserved the title of a stereotypical Ravenclaw. She was nerdy, but more than that always putting annoyingly logical holes in his thinking, and she looked nice in the colour blue.

The second was that she was avoiding him.

Every lesson they had together she positioned herself as far away from him as possible and she left the classroom before he considered moving out of his seat. Of course, he could have caught her before class seeing as she was always early, but then he was always late so he never got a chance. He thought maybe he would've been able to talk to her at the Quidditch match; seeing as it was between Ravenclaw and Slytherin he felt no house-guilt in sitting with the Ravenclaws along with Sam (Molly and Lien had sided with Albus and Scorpius, the traitors), but the match was so intense that he completely forgot his mission to talk to her and instead spent the entire thing on his feet screaming about foul play.

It was a long match, near on five hours, and it ended when Kai Garcia caught the snitch that was hovering literally next to the opposing Seeker's foot, but because she accidently broke his ankle in the capture the points were awarded to Slytherin, though Ravenclaw still won 210-190.

After the match he'd confessed to Sam what he'd told Jayna, and she was just as puzzled as he was about why Jayna had no curiosity about what he'd said. When it finally rolled around to Wednesday however, James knew he had her cornered. She wouldn't refuse to turn up to teach him as she'd promised to help, and then she'd have to talk to him.

When he arrived at the library (only five minutes late which was a bloody miracle) she was stationed at the table nearest the Potions section with her head on the book in front of her, concealing her face from view. He wandered over, wondering if she was asleep, but as he slid into the seat next to her she sat up, her eyes hard with steely determination.

"Potter, I don't want to talk about what you said after Molly's party until after we've finished this tutoring lesson because if you say something that I need to make a dramatic exit for I don't want it to interrupt your learning." While she was trying to make light of the situation, James saw the desperation in her eyes and couldn't deny her request.

"Alright Blackwood; what are we doing today?" Her shoulders slumped in relief and he felt a little pang of guilt run through him.

"Well to be able to help you I need to know what part of Potions you find hard. Is it the multi-tasking? Getting the ingredients to the exact right proportion? The theory?" James pondered the question.

"I think it's the interest. I mean you do best in subjects you enjoy right? And I don't enjoy Potions."

"You want me to teach you to enjoy Potions?" Phrased like that it did seem a little crazy he had to admit. He was surprised, then, when he saw a smile curling the corner of her lips. "You ever heard of the Alihosty Draught?"

"No," He answered, confused but for some reason a matching smile was beginning to form on his face. "Why?"

"It induces hysteria. I used to think it was an absolutely useless potion; why on earth would you need to induce hysteria, but it was used by the Auror department in 1973 to capture ten known dark wizards because it reduced them to such hysterics that they didn't even need to duel them in order to get them to come quietly." James burst out laughing.

"That's amazing! Imagine telling the story of your capture to your other dark wizard buddies and having to admit they easily arrested you while you were sobbing and laughing your head off." Jayna laughed too.

"And the fire protection potion allowed two-hundred and fifty Muggles and thirty magical folk to escape a burning housing block unscathed. Of course the Muggles had to have their memories wiped but it was still astounding. The department of magical catastrophes turned up only to find all two-hundred and eighty of them lounging around outside while the Muggle, what are they called; firefists? Put the fire out." James was choking on laughter again, this time for a completely different reason.

"'Firefists'?" Jayna blushed.

"Well I don't know!"

"They're called fire _fighters_."

"Oh."

"Are you going to take Muggle studies next year?" Jayna smiled, only a little sadly.

"Definitely." He frowned.

"What's with the sad look?" Jayna let out half a chuckle at his customary bluntness and her face brightened again.

"Only that my family are probably turning over in my graves hearing me say that." James smiled awkwardly and was relieved when she changed the topic. "Anyway, can you see why I love Potions? And it's great because every time we brew something successfully it actually goes to good use in the school's stores. I mean sure we might not be brewing the most interesting potions at the moment but the fact that a liquid can completely change anything about you from emotions, like the Alihosty Draught, or your physical state, like the fire protection potion, or even does something so completely random like the Caxambu Style Borborygmus Potion-"

"The what-what potion?"

"The Caxambu Style Borborygmus Potion; it provokes stomach growling."

The rest of the session passed with Jayna nattering happily about all the strange Potions that do this that or the other until she suddenly realised that the session was over five minutes ago. As she glanced at the time James followed her gaze and then stared awkwardly as she forgot what she was saying and began fiddling with her fingers.

"Did you like the Bent-Winged Snitches?" The question was obviously not the one Jayna was expecting but it did bring a smile back to her face.

"Yeah I did; it was amazing; the atmosphere was just incredible and they were so good. Lydjah and I couldn't speak the next day because our voices were so hoarse from screaming the words. And then of course poor Sophia was so confused. Alen's promised to tell her sometime next year now though so at least that'll be a relief." They both sat in silence again, neither knowing what to say.

Jayna wondered how it had been so easy to converse with him for the past hour and yet now she was struck mute. James was about to speak but Jayna flung out a hand unexpectedly to cover his mouth. She looked as surprised as he was and quickly lowered her hand but didn't give him a chance to speak.

"Don't say anything because then I'll ask about what you said."

"Why don't you want to ask?" He whispered, aware they were still in the library but really he felt like shouting in frustration. Why could he never figure this girl out? One moment he'd be sure that she'd be ready to jump off a cliff in order to get some mundane piece of information on a History of Magic essay or something, and the next she refuses information on why her entire family died.

"How do you know anything about it?"

"I love eavesdropping." James said, shrugging, "and my Dad was talking angrily to Dean about it on how the court had just swallowed the story because-"

"They didn't care enough to go further into it?" She whispered quietly. James winced because he couldn't deny it but Jayna was stronger than he gave her credit for and she straightened her shoulders surely. "I don't want to know whatever it is you think you know because whatever you're going to say is going to make me hate someone. I've just managed to get over my hatred for anything Muggle related. Do not give me a reason to turn into my sister."

"You wouldn't-"

"I wouldn't Potter? Really? You said you wanted to know me and here I am." She gestured rather uselessly at herself. "Do you know what I did over the summer? I came this close, this close, to hurting Lydjah because she has 'dirty' blood. I find it hard to say Muggleborn James because Mudblood comes so much easier to my lips. I see them messing around in class and I think to myself they don't deserve this place here. They're lucky they got in at all. I thought I was like Sirius Black, one of your namesakes; coming from a household of awful but managing to redeem myself. But I'm not. I wish sometimes that they would all just die and then we won't have to hide ourselves away just because their pathetic jealous minds couldn't cope with it. Do you believe me now?" He was stunned into silence, staring at her in shock. She got up from the table and dragged her bag onto her shoulder, trying to ignore the wetness glistening on her eyelashes. "That's what I thought. Please don't give me something that will make me want to act on those thoughts."

He found his voice finally. "Is that what you really believe though?" He turned but he was talking to empty air.

 

Jayna found Lydjah wandering outside the Gryffindor Portrait hole. Just as she was about to tap her on the shoulder she saw her friend freeze and waited the two or three seconds for the vision to finish before opening her mouth to ask.

Lydjah turned around to face her before she could though, her eyes lit with delight. "Finally!" She squealed, grabbing Jayna's hand and jumping up and down. Jayna quirked an eyebrow.

"It was Kingston and Miller! Seraphina is finally going to snog a guy who's ACTUALLY DECENT!" There was a polite cough from behind them and they both turned to see none other than the Head Girl herself looking rather blank.

"I'm going to snog who?"

Jayna heard rather than saw Lydjah smack her head into the wall.


	57. Of Finally Understanding and, Therefore, Extreme Panic

"Shit."

The expletive, spoken rather calmly by Jayna Blackwood in the early hours of the morning on the second of May, did not, for once, sum up what she was feeling. She was sat bolt upright, sweat covering her head to foot, as was normal every couple of nights since she'd stopped taking the Dreamless Sleep potion. They were lessening in intesnity but not frequency now, the nightmares, becoming clearer than blind panic.

She had nightmares about the kidnapping, of course she had; she'd been bloody terrified, but most of her nightmares had left her not only gasping for oxygen, but also confused; she could never remember more than brief flashes.

Tonight, however, was different. She still didn't remember much; she knew she'd been walking down a corridor that looked vaguely familiar, dread clutching at her every time she took a step forwards, she remembered having a conversation, though she could not remember any of the words spoken, or who she was conversing with, and she remembered the bolt of lightning that had seared her entire body and woken her up, but not before she caught the parting words of the person who'd cast the words in her nightmare; 'I'm sorry Jayna but the Secret must be kept hidden'.

The Secret; not _a_ secret but _the Secret_. And where had she heard that before? From her foul-mouthed kidnappers of course. What the Hell did that mean?

"Oh Merlin." Jayna breathed, a flash of unwanted genius spinning through her mind. "Oh fucking Merlin. Lydjah!" She was out of bed in a flash (impressive considering it was Jayna) and shaking her best friend awake while still trying to leave the rest of the dorm in peace. It took some effort, and more than a little dodging from her friend's angry kicks when she saw the time before Lydjah was willing to look at her. When she did, her eyes widened in horror.

"Merlin Jay-Jay what happened? You look like complete shit."

"Lydjah we've got to go. We've got to get Potter and Andrews and the firsties if we can. Now." Lydjah's eyebrows creased in confusion.

"Jayna can't it wait until the morning? Or be dealt with by a professor?"

"No it can't because they won't believe me!"

"Then it's highly unlikely anyone else will either." Jayna deflated, looking close to tears.

"You don't believe me?"

"I don't know what I'm supposed to be believing!" Lydjah snapped, hugging the blanket closer around her in order to get warm. Jayna took a deep breath and stared straight into her best friend's eyes, willing her to believe she wasn't joking.

"I know why that person tried to break into the grounds on Halloween. They're looking for something called the Secret. There's a spy in the school there's got to be. We can't trust the staff. But first they've got to get rid of the protective spells on Hogwarts. They don't want to overrun the castle or rule over it. They want to raze it to the ground." A sane person would take Jayna down to the Hospital Wing in order to get a Calming Draught, or if they were a little more lazy, at least convince her it was nothing but a nightmare.

While everyone knew Lydjah was a little closer to the insane end of the spectrum than most people, even she would've done the same, had it not been for the half-pieced visions Lydjah had received while she had a concussion.

The visions were like memories when you were drunk; colourful, loud and not really filled with much that could be made sense of in the morning. There was a lot of dust in these visions, some duelling, panic, white mist, anguished faces that she barely recognised. Sam, years older, waking with a scream of terror. The name Stella Cannon. Lydjah had been working to piece them together in her mind; and the words 'raze it to the ground' were just a little too close to the mostly-structured vision she had told James about on top of the Astronomy tower.

Be that as it may, it was still four in the morning and she intended to get a lot more sleep for what was sure to be an awful weekend. "How the Hell are they going to do that?" Spurred on by the lack of dismissal in her friend's tone Jayna sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I don't know."

"How do you know what you do know?" To be fair to Lydjah, English was rather hard to grasp when your brain was still half in a dreamy fog. Thankfully Jayna was used to her friend's confusing way of speaking.

"It's my nightmares. You know, about the kidnapping. The bits I overheard? Well I'm remembering all of them in… Context now."

"Jayna, we can start researching about the Hogwarts protective spells in the morning- with the others- but if we go now, even with James' invisibility cloak, it will only result in us getting thrown out the library." Jayna, being a rational minded person, realised the logic in this, and conceded to her point.

"Sounds good." She headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Lydjah demanded, sleepily, knowing she was in no position to chase after her friend if she had to. In response, Jayna waved her parchment, inkpot and quills that she'd picked up on her way through the room. "Professor Binns' homework? The one that's not due for another two weeks?"

Jayna grinned, slightly sheepish. "That's the one. I won't be able to get back to sleep now so I might as well do something productive, don't worry I'll do it in the Common Room and you can go back to bed." Lydjah wrinkled her nose.

"If you're going to do something productive you might want to consider a shower." Jayna gave her a mock-glare.

"Something productive that doesn't involve waking up the rest of the dorm you idiot."


	58. Of Research and Plotting Murder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry it's a bit late I had to nuke my computer hardrive so it's been a wild couple of days

There were two words that could get Sam and James to do you a favour with a 100% guarantee and Jayna used both in her scrambled request that morning as she passed them on her way from breakfast.

"Get Al and Scorp; _danger, adventure_ meet in the library go!" James did insist on giving Victoire her birthday 'present' first (she was awoken to see a giant snake twisted around her arm (her biggest fear) but the note attached said it was rather useful for pranking purposes; as long as the person's fear was physical the object would change into it) but then they were down to business. When they finally dragged Scorpius into the library (he insisted on waiting outside to finish his coffee before coming in) they were greeted by a snoozing Lydjah, a rather confused pair of Hufflepuffs and a frazzled Jayna who was currently on a sugar-high and looked torn between grinning at them and ripping out their throats.

"Hi!" James raised an eyebrow, certain that Jayna had never before sounded so bubbly in his presence. "Thanks for finally getting here." A flash of anger crossed her eyes but she seemed to distract herself by swallowing another mouthful of the yogurt she had hidden in her robes.

"Oh shit." Sam murmured to James as she also caught sight of the yogurt.

"You don't think… ?"

"Well does she usually seem this batshit crazy to you?" James opened his mouth to answer, a grin lighting his face but Sam cut him off. "Merlin don't answer that; I already know what you're going to say."

"But I told them to get rid of it seeing as it clearly wasn't working out-"

"What wasn't working out?" Jayna's calm voice relaxed him for a second before he realised that she was literally breathing down his neck. He let out a shriek of surprise and jumped out of the way causing the librarian to glare at him.

"Sorry!" He whisper-hissed to her before turning back to Jayna. "Erm… Nothing. Just, you know, after our inspiring conversation on Potions that day Sam and I thought we might like to, maybe, incorporate some of them into our pranks and we may have been experimenting on the food in the kitchens last night with our latest batch of potion and possibly-"

"What my idiot of a best friend is trying to say is that you've been eating the yogurt we mixed with essence of insanity." Jayna cocked her head to the side.

"That's nice." She concluded with a brief smile before slapping Lydjah upside the head to get her to wake up.

"What the actual fuck Jayna?!" Lydjah screeched.

"Don't worry about her she's been given essence of insanity and now she's having a mental breakdown-"

"I AM NOT HAVING A MENTAL BREAKDOWN!" The last statement was the reason Jayna was unceremoniously thrown out of the library by the very angry librarian and the even more angry Head Boy who was trying to study for his NEWTs.

Surprisingly it was the normally quiet Hufflepuffs who took charge of the situation.

"Right, James, Lydjah and I will go sort out the kitchens before it gets out to anyone else; I don't trust James not to get distracted by all the prank opportunities and I'm the only one who also knows the way to the kitchens plus Lydjah who can lie us out of the trouble that James is sure to get us into." Molly said. James seemed very proud of his untrustworthiness and jutted his chin out proudly (that is until Jayna claimed it looked like a desk and promptly tried to slam his jaw together like a drawer).

"Sam go with Jayna and Scorpius to get her a cure from Slughorn; I'm assuming you know where his office is Scorp?" Lien continued. Scorpius nodded. "Great; then Sam can hold Jayna still if needs be; you're training to be a Beater next year right?" Sam raised her eyebrows, a little surprised by Lien's knowledge. Lien turned to Al. "Me and you can start on the researching that Jayna wanted us to do to start with."

"Blackwood dragged us all the way out here to do research?" James asked disgustedly.

"What exactly did you think we were going to be doing in a library James? Besides, it's bloody important research by the sounds of it; relates to the vision Lydjah had-" Molly cut her off by stamping on her foot hard. Everyone (barring Jayna) waited for James to ask the inevitable 'what vision?'. James didn't seem to notice everyone else's horror as he merely nodded his acceptance.

"The 'Hogwarts-will-need-cheering-up-maybe-no-one-will-be-able-to-see-school's-downfall' vision?" The exact way he phrased it 'school's downfall' triggered the connection in Lydjah's mind… That she couldn't say aloud with him around. Damn it.

"Yeah, that one." Lydjah agreed quickly. "Jayna thinks she might know some more information; she said to research myths about Hogwarts." Lien and Al nodded.

"Let's go." The eight of them dispersed in different directions.

It took half an hour for Sam and Scorpius to get back up to the library with a now completely mentally balanced and incredibly embarrassed Jayna in tow but by the time James, Lydjah and Molly got back, an hour after they'd left, their research had still amounted to nothing interesting. The librarian had kindly let Jayna back in after they explained the situation to her (though they omitted who exactly had tampered with the food) but almost threw them all out again when James' group came barrelling back into the library and dived under the table.

Their bemused friends stared down at the three of them, momentarily distracted from their useless books, a question in all of their gazes. Lydjah seemed too close to an asthma attack to answer said question so the task was left to Molly and James who both had very different views on what happened.

"After courageously finding our way to the kitchens-"

"This idiot got us lost twice by taking what he claimed were shortcuts-"

"I charmed the house-elves-"

"He terrified the poor buggers by loudly announcing that there was a deadly poison in all the food and Lydjah and I had to spend ages calming them down-"

"And quickly got rid of all the contaminated food-" Lydjah let out a little breathless snort of derision at that, "I mean, Lydjah got rid of all the contaminated food-"

"Yeah while he attempted to eat everything else in the kitchen-"

"And then we came back here." At this Molly's eyes almost bugged out of her head.

"You conveniently forgot the part where WE ALMOST DIED." James winced.

"What did you do this time Potter?" Jayna asked exasperatedly.

"Why do you automatically assume it was me?" Everyone looked at him. "Well fine but that's a lot coming from you Blackwood considering you almost broke my jaw earlier." Jayna coloured.

"Well I'm sorry but who was it that put essence of INSANITY in my food?" James frowned; she'd stumped him there. "I repeat; what did you do?" The three of them clambered out from under the table and drew up chairs as James began to relate the last part of their journey.

"It was a dark and windy night-"

"For Merlin's sake James it's the middle of the day!" James sent a sulky look at his best friend.

"Fine; it was a vaguely bright day and a stunningly handsome Gryffindor-"

"Prat."

"What was that Blackwood?"

"A stunningly handsome Gryffindor prat."

"So you admit I'm stunningly attractive?"

"I'm averse to your personality; not blind." James blinked several times as the rest of the table exploded into laughter; Jayna flushed bright red but she was grinning too. "And I'd perhaps put it 'as attractive as a Gryffindor prat with an ego the size of Jupiter thinks he is'." They began to laugh again until James coughed loudly.

"Anyway; so me and these two tiny idiots-"

"Who are you calling tiny? I'm average height. Plus; idiot? Who's in the house of the wise dumbass?" Lydjah interrupted.

"And I'm above average height for a Hufflepuff." Molly pointed out. Everyone shot her a look. "Ok that's not saying much but anyway." She gestured for James to continue which he did with an irritated look.

"So we're walking down the corridor and this evil monster stalks sinisterly from around the corner; six feet tall, frothing at the mouth; eyes set on murder-" Lydjah and Molly were trying to calm their hysterics by gripping the edge of the table.

"Six feet tall?" Lydjah gasped.

"Eyes set on murder?" Molly choked out.

"What was it?" Scorpius asked curiously.

"Mrs Norris. Filch's ridiculously old cat that seriously should've died by now." Lydjah answered. Everyone cracked up again.

"Fine ok so she wasn't very intimidating. But I saved us from rabies anyway-"

"She doesn't have rabies you dolt she was hissing at you!"

"Why on earth would she be hissing at me?" James asked, affronted.

"Maybe because of what you did next which I'm informed has happened many time before?" James grinned widely.

"That may have been it." Sam was starting to smile too. "So I of course had to continue with tradition-"

"Naturally." Jayna chimed in.

"And glued her feet to the floor." There was a beat of silence. Then a chorus of 'what's, 'how's and 'why's came from those who had not been there (barring Sam who simply held her hand up for a high-five that he returned with gusto) and 'I know right's from those who had. James put his hands up for quiet, and, exasperatedly rolling their eyes, everyone shut up. "Pretty simple really just a placement Charm-"

"So why did you run in here like all the Headless Horsemen were after you?" James looked slightly sheepish and rubbed the back of his neck as it flared red.

"He did it right in front of Filch the git."

"Who's a git; James or Filch?"

"Both of them. And then Filch started chasing after us and threatening us with medieval torture methods it was terrifying." The conversation was halted as Albus spoke up in a voice full of wonder from where he was sitting next to Lien.

"Guys; I think we found something." James, after getting over his indignation that they hadn't been listening to his story, asked them to read it out. "'It's rumoured, like many of the fantastical tales spun about the Wizarding school, that the original protection spells cast by the four founders; Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor, were made deep within the foundations of the castle. While almost every generation has added more spells or renewed the old it has been said that Hogwarts could never be truly defeated until these first spells had been broken.

"Even more interesting is a second myth, whether fact of fiction is unknown, sprung up around the same time; a mythical object holding all of Hogwarts' secrets that was hidden from prying eyes so that no-one could possess all the secrets at once.

"These rumours originated even before the infamous 'Chamber of Secrets' or Rowena's lost Diadem. Of course, no evidence has ever been produced to secure any of these stories in fact-" Albus cut off with a snort that everyone except Lien joined in with. At Lien's confused look Molly quickly explained that Harry had discovered both these 'myths' during his time at Hogwarts. "but they are interesting to consider nonetheless. Is something lurking beneath the castle, just waiting to be revealed?'"

"We should go to the Chamber of Secrets." James' suggestion was met with complete and utter disbelief.

"We should what?" Jayna asked calmly, hoping she'd misheard him.

"Well that's the furthest underneath the school anyone's ever recorded." He said straight to Jayna, rather logically to her annoyance.

"Do you know how to get there?"

"I thought you said you read the biographies." Jayna fumed.

"Of course I have! It just hasn't been publicised for OBVIOUS reasons- considering there's a basilisk skeleton dripping with deadly poison down there!"

"The Ravenclaw makes a point." Sam chimed in.

"Your Dad's not stupid- he's not going to give the exact location of all his adventures so school children can break into the department of mysteries or something just so they can witness where Harry Potter fought Voldemort! The biographies are so slim- for some of his school years all they can say is that Harry once again defeated Voldemort although they have no idea how, where or more specifically how to get there or when he did it!" Jayna continued in a furious hiss, glancing up apologetically at the librarian as she finished.

James smiled amusedly but not kindly, cocking his head to the side with (in Jayna's opinion) an infuriating smirk. "It really bugs you Blackwood doesn't it? Not knowing the facts?" Jayna glared at him. The rest of the table was temporarily forgotten as their spat got more heated.

"Of course it bugs me! You expect me to just flounce off to the Chamber of fucking Secrets with you when all I know about it is that there's a, thankfully, dead basilisk and a lot of water?!"

"Come on, take a leap of faith." James said more softly but Jayna was not to be deterred.

"There's a difference between making a leap of faith and walking blindly off a cliff because you weren't clever enough to put a plan in place before I fell to my death!" He scowled.

"If that's about-"

"Running head first into a trap in October that ended with me getting tortured and you getting off scot-free then yes." She'd indirectly insulted his bravery and she knew it. His eyes flashed with anger and hurt spurred his words, stabbing a finger at her as he spoke.

"Fine stay here and draw a fucking diagram- oh whoops the only person who has the vaguest idea of what it looks like is LEAVING." James stormed out of the library leaving the other seven staring after him. Everyone appeared at rather a loss for what to say as Jayna chewed her lip with a blank expression. Lydjah was about to ask if she was ok when she stood up, utter fury covering her face (which only Lydjah was perceptive enough to realise was mostly from her damaged pride at James having the last word than anything else).

"If he dies then I am going to murder his owl." Al looked rather upset at this prospect; he quite liked James' owl; Merlin.

"Why?"

"Because his owl is fucking annoying and if he's dead he won't be able to stop me. You coming?"

"To where?" Molly inquired, bewildered.

"The Chamber of Secrets of course."


	59. Of Charms and Stupid Ideas (Obviously Not Made By a Ravenclaw)

They caught up with James just as he reached a seemingly blank wall on the first-floor (through a process of map reading (Jayna was equal parts in love and horrified with the Marauder's Map but definitely wanted to see it being used (luckily Sam had it))). He smirked as Jayna approached, ignoring everyone else (which did nothing but piss them off). She sneered back and brought her hand up to eye-level where he could see his wand twirling between her fingers.

"How did you-"

"Decided it wouldn't be fair to let you go down there without even your wand. You left it on the desk." Jayna's angry tone contrasted harshly with the rather thoughtful words she was saying and James didn't know which one to react to so settled for blinking and accepting the wand while muttering 'thanks' under his breath.

Jayna cleared her throat and looked back to the other six. "I've changed my earlier statement; if I die down here, seeing as that's more likely knowing my luck, I'm going to remain as a ghost and throttle his owl ok?" James realised he seemed to have missed something.

"What?"

Sam pushed past Jayna, bored of being left out of the conversation. "Nevermind. Where are we going?"

"We're here. Moaning Myrtle's bathroom." He gestured to the blank wall in front of them and was met with six blank faces (Albus was nodding along with him).

"There's nothing here James." Molly said gently, as if she was slightly worried about his health (she privately wondered if perhaps he'd ingested some of that insanity potion too).

"Well there isn't to you because you don't know the secret. What is this; some kind of variant on the Fidelius Charm?" He wondered, staring with interest at the door that none but he and Al could see.

"Hmm maybe." Al agreed. "Something to do with us being blood-related to the Secret-Keeper?"

"Well why can't I see it then?" Molly asked.

"Because you're only related to Harry through marriage." Lydjah pointed out.

"Oh, right." Molly murmured, disappointed.

"Can you really not see the door?" James asked, thinking that maybe it was an elaborate prank.

"Yes we can really not see the door." Jayna said, exasperated.

"I don't know how to break the Charm. My Dad told me about the one they'd put on here; it's kind of like a weaker version of the Fidelius Charm meaning whoever knows the secret can pass it on not just the Secret-Keeper. He thought that would be better just in case someone really needed to get into the Chamber again like Auntie Hermione and Uncle Ron did."

"Just bring us over the threshold with you," Lydjah said, "that works on proper Fidelius Charms so it should work on this one."

"Alright then." James said, holding his arm out to Sam with a bow. She rolled her eyes and punched him in the shoulder before grabbing his hand. They stepped forwards at the same time, always perfectly in sync, and disappeared to all but Al, who could still see them through the bathroom door. Albus shrugged and grabbed Scorp by the wrist before he could blink and pulled him through too.

The remaining four were all rather startled when his hand appeared again but not the rest of him, clearly he couldn't be bothered ferrying them all over one by one. Lien hesitantly took it and he repeated the process until all eight of them were inside the bathroom.

The bathroom itself was rather disappointing for the five and a half (Molly had been told the vaguest details about it) people who had been expecting something slightly grander. It was an ordinary girl's lavatory; cubicles with toilets and a big round column in the centre which was littered with sinks and mirrors.

Jayna, the last to arrive, only heard the last scream of Myrtle's and the accompanying shrieks from James and Sam who were now coated head to toe in water. Apparently they'd said some not very flattering comments about how she was dressed which upset her enough for her to stop pestering James about his father and cover them in water from her favourite toilet.

Jayna gestured with her wand at them with a sigh, drying them with a Ventus Charm.

"This is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets? A girl's bathroom?" Lydjah said, unimpressed. Sam nodded in agreement. "Anyway, how do you get in?"

James rubbed his hands together excitedly then seemed to realise what he was doing and promptly stopped. "Er… Anyone know any Parseltongue?"

"It's an inherited trait right?" Albus piped up. "So maybe one of us can do it." He gestured between himself and James.

"Yeah but Dad only had that because of the horcrux thingy."

"You want me to summon a snake so you can try it out?" Scorpius asked dryly.

"Merlin no." Albus shuddered.

"I quite like them." Jayna said conversationally.

Meanwhile, Molly and Lien were stood by the sinks looking down into the huge gaping slide in the floor.

"I don't think we need to worry guys seeing as it's already open." The other six got whiplash from turning so fast.

"I guess Auntie Hermione and Uncle Ron just forgot to close it back up after them." Molly commented as the other six crowded around the edge.

"To be fair they were in the middle of the final battle of the biggest war our world has ever seen."

"True." Molly allowed. Jayna and Lydjah were now stood at the front, gripping each other's hands tightly and looking rather white.

"What is it; a slide?" Jayna asked, somehow managing to sound interested as well as strangled.

"Yeah." Lydjah and Jayna shared a look.

"Wait-"

"And seeing as you're closest I guess you're first. See you at the bottom ladies!" James shoved the two Ravenclaws into the murky darkness below.


	60. Of Cross-Overs and More Murder Plotting

James, in an uncharacteristically nice move, took Lien next who was more than a little scared of the dark. Unfortunately, he had less than a second to gain his bearings before Lydjah slapped him round the face. (In that second he managed to see it was dingy, littered in rat bones and very damp.)

"You fucking idiot; it's a slide! We can't get back up! Unless prat Potter's pretentious pet turns out to be a fucking phoenix we're all going to die down here!"

"Nice alliteration." Sam commented as she tumbled out of the slide. James paled and stuck his head back up the tunnel.

"Al wait-" He was cut off as Albus, Molly and Scorpius came yelling out of the slide on top of him and they all landed in a rather painful pile. James then noticed the rat faeces that was perilously close to his cheek and struggled against the weight of the other three, forcing himself out from under the pile.

"What's wrong with Jayna?" Albus asked as he dusted himself off. Jayna was standing a little off to the side taking huge gulps of air with her head bowed.

"Other than that she's terrified of heights and Potter just shoved her into a pit with no visible bottom?"

"Aren't you scared of heights too Lydjah? You looked pretty white up there." Sam commented.

"Yeah I'm just better at handling it." Lydjah shrugged. James wandered slowly over to Jayna, raising his hand to awkwardly pat her on the shoulder but she spun round and caught his wrist before he could.

"Potter; your pretentious owl is off the hook; if I die down here I'm going to throttle you instead. Where are we going?" James took offence at her snappy tone.

"Well I don't know!" The truth, accidentally blurted out, seemed to freeze Jayna solid.

"What?" She said in a dangerous tone.

"I said; I don't know!" Jayna took one more deep breath and let it out while silently counting to ten in her head as her mother used to advise her to do when she was annoyed with her little brothers (it hardly ever worked).

"Ok," She began, in the calmest tone she could muster, "well let's get some light in here and then we can see what we're doing at least." One by one they all cast Lumos and the circular room was lit up. A corridor, shaped like a pipe with trickles of water running through it, was made visible.

"Hey, firsties you don't have to come if you don't want to." Lydjah said gently to the group of four who were all looking slightly scared. Scorpius was the best at hiding it, Lien the worst, but it was all evident to Lydjah who was generally perceptive about such things.

"Aww Lydjah why don't we get that option?" James cleared the mood. Lydjah arched her eyebrows.

"Because it's your bloody fault we're stuck down here with no way of getting out and it was Sam's stupid idea to become your best friend and hell if Jayna's gonna ditch me for some famous Purebloods and a Hufflepuff."

"Again, the Ravenclaw makes a point." Sam said. All four of the first-years refused Lydjah's offer but with little vehemence. "There isn't a live basilisk down here anymore guys but it doesn't hurt to be a little cautious." She continued. Everyone else stared at her in amazement; who would've thought that a Gryffindor would be advising them on caution? "Remember to watch your back; danger's always where you're not looking."

With that in mind they set off down the corridor, their lit wands held aloft in front of them. None of them really led the way; Jayna was the first to get going but when she stumbled on a fallen stone James quickly took her place at the front though he didn't have any idea where his feet were taking him. He'd envisioned this place a couple of times; his father saving his mother wasn't his favourite story (it was Lily's, though not for that reason; she just liked that he stabbed a huge snake (his was the final battle at Hogwarts and Al's was the first when Harry stopped Voldemort from getting the Philosopher's Stone)) but he still knew it pretty much off by heart.

Molly shrieked in horror when they rounded the next corridor to see a huge snake resting on the floor stretching onto who-knows-where. Lydjah rolled her eyes.

"Calm down idiot it's snake skin." Now knowing she wasn't in immediate danger her eyes widened into saucers.

"It's huge!"

"Hey look what I've found!" James piped up from the front. The rest of the group hurried over to find him standing at the bottom of a small pile of rubble.

"What is it?" Lydjah asked, disappointed that not only did it look boring it was also another obstacle that she was going to have to clamber over and get her robes even more dirty.

"It's the place where this chap called… Locklove?"

"Lockhart." Jayna stepped in. "You know the crafty twit who stole all his work off other witches and wizards?" There was a chorus of 'oh's from everyone except Sam (because she was a Muggleborn), Lien (for the same reason) and Lydjah (who's Dad had never bothered to tell her about the twit who had been in the same house as him) who still looked confused. Jayna elaborated for them. "He was Harry's Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in his second year. He was a fraud and when Harry and Ron found out they brought him to the Chamber with them, not entirely sure why seeing as I would've just let him run away and not have to deal with his annoying moaning, but then he stole Ron's wand and backfired a memory charm on himself because Ron's wand was really crappy and yeah he's still in St Mungos. How is he these days?" James looked suitably impressed at her accurate retelling of the story Jayna noted, with smugness.

"Still got no memories and still as annoying as fuck; Dad and Uncle Ron are terrified of going to St Mungos now because they're worried the Healer from the first time they went to see him will recognise them and drag them up to see him again; not the most practical of fears when you're an Auror unfortunately."

They only had to walk for a little longer (though getting everyone over the rather precarious pile of rubble took some time) before they finally reached the main chamber. There was a short walkway decorated with pillars of twisting snakes which led to the huge statue of Salzar Slytherin ("Not the best looking bloke is he?" Sam pointed out). The whole place had a greenish hue but it was the kind of green that reminded you of fear not grass. Their footsteps echoed loudly as they slowly wandered down the walkway, splashing in the thin layer of water that covered the floor. James wondered how on earth his father had run for his life down here; he'd already lost his footing twice. If he closed his eyes he could imagine the scene; the tall, arrogant, ghostly, Slytherin boy twisting Harry's wand between his fingers; eleven year-old Ginny lying ashen on the floor (well he imagined his sister, Lily, because Harry said they looked very similar), the elegant phoenix flying in circles around his father's head, the gigantic snake hissing and snarling with teeth longer then Harry's whole body and finally his father himself; short, his robes hanging off skinny wrists, dirty, bleeding and scared but eyes flashing with courage and determination, the huge ruby sword clutched firmly in his hand as he raised his arm to strike…

Jayna's voice cut him out of his reverie. He realised he'd taken several steps forwards and was now stood in front of the rest of the group, dangerously close to the skeleton that was potentially still dripping with deadly basilisk venom. Sam was stood by him, apparently as entranced as he had been.

"I'll quite happily hex you in order to stop you from inhaling basilisk venom." Sam and James rolled their eyes but back away and their group formed a circle.

"So what do we do now?" Lien was the first to voice what they were all thinking. James shrugged.

"I vote we check out this place a bit more; I mean obviously the Secret isn't here because otherwise Dad would've encountered it. But there are pipes all around this place and he can't have done an accurate look around all of them while running away from snakey over here." He gestured with his thumb over his shoulder to the skeleton. No-one had a better idea and no-one wanted to split up so they set off into the first pipe on the right.

More wandering took place (everyone was trying to forget that they had no way to get out of there) until they finally found something.

Lien, who happened to be walking in front, spotted the door first. It wasn't wooden; otherwise it would have rotted by now, but solid marble with snakes of algae trailing down it. It took a lot of effort for them to open it seeing as Sam and James immediately rushed to throw it open by slamming their shoulders into the wall only for Lydjah to calmly unlock it with Alohomora causing them to tumble into the room. The other six followed them in, laughing, which bounced strangely off the walls as if they'd never heard laughter down here before. The two embarrassed-but-trying-not-to-show-it Gryffindors got out their wands again and lit them like everyone else already had. They were in a room that had eight doors leading off in different directions and that, while it wasn't very wide, was very tall and they all took a moment to appreciate the architecture that must have gone into it, spreading out in order to admire the room.

Unfortunately, it was a moment too long as none of them were prepared for when the door slammed shut behind them, the clicking sound of the deadbolt sliding back into place deafening to them. They were suddenly plunged into darkness as their wands disappeared from their hands and the room began to shudder and slant towards the centre where a gaping hole that spiralled off into infinity was opening, threatening to swallow them whole.


	61. Of Starter Tests and Freaky Doubles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry it's late.

Understandably the eight of them panicked. They all scrambled backwards, throwing themselves at the closest doors, ramming their bodies against them and yelling in fear and frustration when nothing happened while they tried to ignore the hole that was only growing larger behind them as the floor was snapped and devoured by the emptiness. Jayna was beating her fists against her door hopelessly, while Lien crouched next to her was desperately crying out through the key hole as if there was anyone out there that could save them. Lydjah was isolated on a door by herself, incidentally the one they had all entered through, frantically shouting spells that would've worked if not for the fact she had no wand. James and Molly were taking it in turns to hit a specific point on their door, keeping a terrified eye on the hole all the while. Albus had given up on his door and was screaming at Scorpius instead who was staring, transfixed, at the widening abyss with a weird kind of fascination, almost as if he _wanted_ to stumble into it and fall for eternity in its weightless embrace.

Albus grabbed Scorpius round the chest and lifted him fully off the ground just as the floor beneath his feet crumbled. Albus teetered backwards, tripping and almost losing his hold on the hysterical Scorpius. Sam, from the door next to them dashed along the tiny amount of remaining floor space to give him a hand and caught Lydjah's eye as she did so, watching as Lydjah's waterfall of hair was tossed behind her ear as she swore loudly, leaving her right ear, and its adornment, on display.

"LYDJAH USE YOUR EARRINGS!" She was grabbing Scorpius and turning towards Lydjah's door before the Ravenclaw even processed what she'd said. Lydjah reached a fumbling hand up to her ear, squeezing herself into the gap of the door as the hole got ever closer and finally found the tiny button on the side of the mini sonic-screwdriver and pressed it hastily. For one horrifying moment nothing happened; Jayna had just began to sidle over to Lydjah's door but already her expression was falling, Sam, Albus and Scorpius stumbled dangerously close to the edge, only saved by James instinctively steadying his brother by grabbing his elbow, and then the door flew open with Lydjah's weight and she fell hard into the corridor taking a glancing blow to her ribs on the door handle.

Sam's group reached her next collapsing mostly on top of her unapologetically, their eyes wide and terrified; pupils wider than their irises and hearts racing a mile a minute. They'd barely tripped out of the doorway before Lien and Jayna dived through it, Jayna immediately sticking her head back through the door in order to see James and Molly scrambling for their lives towards them. They'd had to resort to crawling as the floor was too weak to take them sprinting now but logic failed when James almost fell through it as he put his hand down on a particularly weak spot and it disintegrated in his fingers. Absolutely mad with terror he forgot Molly who was two steps behind him and launched himself in an impressive display of adrenaline fuelled strength towards the door smashing into Jayna's stomach and causing them both to knock to the floor, Jayna struggling to draw breath where he'd winded her.

Scorpius scrambled forward and grabbed Molly's wrist from where she'd frozen. At the contact she started to move to take the last step just as the final bit of the floor crumbled beneath her legs. Scorpius didn't ever think; he yanked his arm back quicker than a lightning bolt, taking Molly with him. Her foot caught on the underside of the door and there was a sickening crack as she twisted it the wrong way to get out.

She let out a screech of pain but made it and for a few miraculous seconds the eight of them just lay in a heap of tangled limbs, salty tears and dripping in fear, knees in stomachs and hands in accidental inappropriate places, not that anyone cared, and their lungs all took a moment to find the oxygen that they craved.

"Why hello there!" Lydjah's voice that didn't come from Lydjah emanated from behind them. They sprang up (with the exception of Molly who tried to put weight on her ankle and went very white so Scorpius and Lien moved to block her from view), their stances defensive and their slowing heart-rates beginning to speed again. All of their eyes widened as they realised they once again had their wands in their hands, as if they had never left, and they gripped them tightly as they edged far away from the door, Albus switching his wand hand in order to help Scorpius in supporting Molly.

"Congratulations on completing your first starter test! I know many things about you all." This time Jayna's voice echoed towards them and bounced around the walls. None of them noticed the dreaded marble door shutting quietly again. James swallowed the lump in his throat and edged forwards, shaking off Sam's restraining hand, towards the voices. The other seven slowly followed, huddling together closely and casting fearful looks in every direction.

As they turned the corner and stepped into a wider part of the passage that they'd passed on their way in they were greeted with what was quite possibly _the_ most unpleasant sight imaginable.

"That's creepy as fuck." Lydjah whispered shakily, staring in horror at what could have been her identical twin. Each of the eight of them had their own double smiling slightly oddly at them, all wearing the exact same clothes down to the dust and the dirt and the damp.

"I know your present of course." James' double continued. The real James started at the sound of his double speaking, insisting under his breath that he sounded nothing like that.

"And your past." Albus' double added. Before they could do much more than blink the eight doubles had aged backwards to the point of either three or four years old but instead of standing and staring at their twins dully they were interacting.

James' double was playing catch with Albus' double who was getting increasingly annoyed as James' aimed it at his head again and again. James' double had refused to wear a t-shirt and was quite happily running around in just his Pygmypuff covered underwear. Albus', in contrast, was wearing blue jeans, small black boots and a long-sleeve jumper that had an adorable picture of an owl on it and was constantly slipping over his hands causing it fumble with the Quaffle that James' was repeatedly throwing at him.

Lien's, a little further away from the Potters, was sat with her legs crossed and her tiny nose furrowed in concentration, pig-tails bopping, as she quietly but accurately read aloud from the giant fairy-tale book she was holding, which looked as if it could swallow her whole, and her eyes widened in delight as the pictures slowly stood up and waved to her before fading back into the book as quickly as they'd come.

Behind Lien's was Scorpius' who was lying down on the floor, giggling, his legs kicking into the air, apparently oblivious to the grass stains that were forming all over his pristine black trousers and previously-immaculate white shirt that looked far too stiff for a child so young.

Molly's was darting in-between the two Potters, desperately trying to catch the Quaffle before it landed in one of the brothers' doubles' hands, much to their amusement. Her hair was ridiculously short but curling in tiny ringlets and bouncing into her eyes whenever she made a leap for the red ball.

Facing the cousins, though apparently unable to see them, was Lydjah's who was seated off the ground on a wooden chair. She appeared to be concentrating very hard as she gripped the sides of the chair, mouthing 'do it again' to herself. After a few seconds the chair hesitantly floated a few inches above the floor and she clapped her hands in delight, forgetting a moment too late that she was supposed to be gripping the chair. She fell off it, sprawling on the floor in ungainly mess but with a huge grin on her face.

Opposite Scorpius', Jayna's was also wearing clothes that looked far too expensive for a four-year-old to be wearing; a dress that was all plush red silk that swished when she spun around in giddy circles, as she was doing now, pointing her new, very long, wand that was emitting small purple bubbles in vague directions so they swirled around her.

Sam's was stood just a little to the left of the rapidly twirling Jayna's, a ridiculously cute pout on her face as she played football with herself. She was wearing cutie little football boots that were unfortunately barely visible under the huge pink poufy dress that was covering her head to foot complete with huge fairy wings and a glittering plastic tiara, and she was apparently focused on getting said dress as muddy as possible by the way she kept diving unnecessarily for the ball and 'accidentally' stepping on the edges of the skirt when she stood.

Lien's suddenly put the book down and looked back up at the frozen Hogwarts students. "But unlike you,"

Scorpius' sat up, his expression suddenly devoid of all emotion, "I know your future too."

The eight young children disappeared, replaced with young adults. The eight real people breathed in sharply as they took in their older selves. This group of doubles were much closer together, almost uncomfortably close as if they'd become paranoid of having any distance at all.

Each of them homed in on their own double, not having time, in the brief second that they appeared for, to see anyone else's.

James' was staring straight ahead, as if at the real James, but it was if he was blind. There was no reaction on his face, no emotion, not even a flicker. His clothes, much like the real James', were ripped, dirty and torn, as were all the doubles'. There was a faded scar that ran down the length of his right arm, and his left leg was in a splint. His right hand was gripping Jayna's tightly, but it wasn't in anyway romantic as the tips of her fingers appeared to be slowly turning purple.

Albus', despite his skin being literally grey from the dust that covered him head to foot, somehow looked slightly healthier than James'. He had a cut on his knee that was bleeding freely down his leg where the rest of his trouser leg had been cut off. He was stood close to James', as if to be ready to offer him support but was wary of James's' damaged leg.

Lien's was stood on the other side of Albus, their shoulder brushing against each other, but she had an arm round Scorpius' waist, keeping him upright. She looked endlessly tired and kept her gaze to the floor but there was a crackling determination and anger that kept her spine straight.

Scorpius' had his eyes closed and his arm's swung round other people's shoulders. His legs were bent like they were too weak to fully support him and blood was seeping into the collar of his shirt from a shallow wound on the back of his head turning the dirty-white to red.

Molly's was the other person Scorpius' was leaning on. Her eyes were red and puffy, but for some reason the onlookers knew it wasn't from tears, and the arm that wasn't holding Scorpius' was brandishing her wand fiercely. She appeared to be the only one in the group who still had the will to fight.

Lydjah's was on the other side of Jayna's. She had her face turned away from the front and her hands were cracked and bleeding in several places, and she tried to hide their shaking in the huge t-shirt she was wearing. She was the only one not wearing school uniform and her wand was tucked into the front pocket of a pair pyjama trousers.

Jayna's had her head on Lydjah's' shoulder. She didn't appear to notice the loss of blood circulation to her fingers and her eyes were slightly dazed, as if she'd just been given news that she couldn't, or wouldn't, allow to process.

Sam's was stood a little off to the side. Her feet were only just touching the floor, as if she was stood on her tip-toes, and her eyes, like Scorpius's', were closed. Her nose was slightly off-kilter, as if it had been broken, and her arm definitely had been by the way it was bending strangely. At the back her white-blonde hair had been stained red.

A second blink and all the doubles were gone barring James' who'd aged back down to thirteen. "But to start all I will say is this; Welcome James Sirius Potter and welcome Sam Andrews. Your intelligence does you justice. Welcome Lien Saffron Thea Robert Irby and welcome Molly Alice Weasley. Your courage is not to be disregarded. Welcome Lydjah Amber Hayley Roscoe Dawson and welcome Jayna Ivonne Blackwood. Your ambitions will get you far. Welcome Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy and welcome Albus Severus Potter. Your kindness knows no bounds." Shaking off the dark foreboding that had crept into their hearts at the sight of their doubles, each of the group of eight let out a very quiet embarrassed chuckle at their full names.

"Do you think it got our houses wrong?" James stage-whispered to Sam. A brief flash of annoyance passed over James' double's face.

"I can hear you, you know. I know your houses young Gryffindor don't you fret, but I care naught for them. The founders were wrong to try and suppress every talent except their desired one. You are worthy of attempting these tasks because you do not fit into the categories everyone tries to force you into. Whether you complete them is up to you. Each of the tasks can be completed by you- none are above your current level of skill. As you get better the tasks will get harder. Only after you have completed the final test of each section can you move onto the next. First you've got to complete the second, third and fourth of your starter tests. You have entered as a team and you will be tested as a team. Look out for each other."

Sam raised a sceptical eyebrow. "How do you know we even _want_ to complete these tasks?"

James' double laughed. "Have you seen yourselves? Of course you do. Ask your dark haired Ravenclaw for conformation though. Just what else has she been hiding I wonder? Anyway, I shall hear from you soon," there was a slight pause during which the double smiled slightly, "Of course, you'll have to find me first."

Before anyone could ask anything more the double had vanished leaving them all more than slightly confused. "Blackwood what was that thing talking about?" James asked cautiously, not wanting to set her off on one. Jayna looked troubled.

"I don't know." No-one, not even Jayna, spotted the lie. "But we do have to complete the tasks. We've got to get to the Secret before they do."

"What secret? And who's 'they'?"

"The myth that Albus found. The Night-Watchers want the Secret to Hogwarts so that they can raze the school to the ground. I don't know why they want to raze the school; only that they do. Of course usually I'd suggest we pass this information along but I'm wary of there being a spy, either in the staff or in the Auror office." James started to protest but she held up a hand. "Of course I know it's not your Dad or your Auntie calm the hell down. And I know if we told your Dad he wouldn't go and announce it to the whole bloody office but even as the Head of the Aurors he can't do anything without the Department of Magical Law Enforcement agreeing." James started to protest again and Jayna literally had to clamp a hand over his mouth to stop him. "And yes, I know that one of your other Aunties is the Deputy-Head of that department and could probably get it signed off but what can the Ministry do Potter? Camp out their best team of Aurors at some unknown location in the castle on the off chance that some idiot Night-Watcher attempts to break in at some point during the next who knows how many years? The best they can do is keep the Night-Watchers out of the castle but just in case they fail we have to get to this Secret before them so we can stop them from using it."

James harrumphed as he ran out of things to argue with and set his mouth into a scowl, much to Jayna's hidden amusement. "How do you know they're even after this Secret?" Sam asked gently. Jayna turned to her.

"Because I overheard them talking about it during the kidnapping. I assumed they were just talking about any old secret but the way they were referring to it as The Secret…"

"Why did they want my Dad then?" Albus asked.

"I don't know. Maybe it's phase two of their plan or something. I think your Dad can look out for himself though, especially because he's on alert because he knows they want him." Albus nodded, acquiescing with frown.

"These tests could be dangerous." Molly ventured evenly. Jayna looked straight at her as she responded.

"I know." There was a tense moment and then Scorpius spoke.

"Well I'm in." He commented casually, smiling lightly at Jayna. She really wanted to hug him in that moment.

"Aww Scorp you're making me sad that our marriage was called off." She teased. Scorpius found himself smiling in response to her smile but then froze as the meaning of her words sunk in.

"What?"

"What 'what'?"

"We were bethrothed?!"

"Didn't you know?" Jayna asked, amusement warring with shock on her face.

"No!" Jayna laughed.

"Our parents were friends, we were only a year apart and they knew we got on from how we acted at parties so they just thought why not. Obviously your parents called it off after the fir- this summer because I was moving in with a Halfblood and I'm not worth nearly as much." Scorpius frowned.

"I'm sorry. Not that the marriage was called off because, you know, gorgeous as you are and all," Jayna laughed again, "I don't like you like that, but I am sorry that first of all our parents arranged it without our permission and secondly that they called it off just because you don't have as much wealth." Jayna smiled at him.

"It's fine Scorp. And don't be angry at your parents they just want the best for you."

"I can't believe they were going to marry me off." Jayna winced.

"They still might mate. You're going to have to fight tooth and nail for that to change."

"Or just get rid of my pest of a mother." Scorpius grumbled. Everyone chuckled.

"Anyway, back onto the previous topic," Lydjah began, "I'm in too. Not that you should've had any doubts about my involvement anyway." She finished, looking closely at her best friend who smiled thankfully at her and squeezed her hand.

"I'll do it." Al agreed. Sam and James shared a look.

"Of course we're in." They said at the same time and high-fived without looking at each other.

"Meh what else have I got to do with my time except search this huge castle for hidden rooms?" Molly shrugged.

"Exactly how do other people spend their Saturdays?" Lien joked.

"Guess it's time to find whoever that was." Jayna sighed.

"'Who'ever or 'what'ever?" Lien asked. The group considered this as Jayna used _Ferula_ to splint Molly's ankle ("I'm sorry I don't have any Skele-Gro on me; I don't think I'm capable of making it yet. I'm trying to make the burn paste for myself but it's not going too well so far.") for a second before Sam cut into their thinking.

"Who cares?"

"I concede the Gryffindor has a point." Lydjah beamed.


	62. Of Pigeons and How the Hell They are Going to Get Out of There (Note That the Two Relate)

"How the Hell are we going to get out of here?" The question, voiced by Scorpius as they trudged back towards the main chamber, studiously avoiding all doors, shattered any kind of happy buzz the group had been on. Lydjah sighed defeatedly.

"The Slytherin also has a point." Sam mock-glared at her for stealing her line twice.

"We can't float ourselves up can we?" Molly suggested.

"The Hover charm only lifts you a few inches above the floor and Winguardium Leviosa has to be cast by someone else who wouldn't be able to see the twists and turns coming up and besides that would leave someone at the bottom." Lydjah shot down.

"What about the banishing charm?" Albus' idea caused a few seconds of thought before Jayna shook her head.

"Again, only works on objects just like its counter-spell."

"Portkey?"

"I'm sure there's anti-transportation spells even here." The conversation was cut off for a while as they all struggled over the rubble pile (Molly especially).

"Maybe we can send word to someone to get us out of here?"

"How would we send word to them? Our owls can't get down here unless they know the way in."

"Well could we get a note to our owls?" Lien's eyes lit up.

"Could we use the banishing charm to send a note to our owls and then get the owls to contact someone who can get us out of here?" The other seven considered this.

"Why can't we just send the note straight to the person we want to help us?" Scorpius asked.

"Because I'm assuming we're going to be enlisting the help of a student, not a teacher unless we want to be expelled, and we don't want to send it to, say, a student's bed only for someone else in the dorm to pick it up and tell a member of staff. Owls only deliver straight to the receiver." Everyone nodded in surprise at the amount of quick-thinking that had gone into this idea.

"The Hufflepuff makes an excellent suggestion but to whom are we sending this note?" James asked. Everyone shot him a look for continuing the stupid third person monologue.

"Lee." Jayna, Lydjah and Sam chorused.

"If anyone will figure out how to get us out of here without the teachers knowing it's her." Sam elaborated proudly.

"True." James allowed. "Whose owl are we using then?"

"Well who has owls to start with?" Molly asked as they reached the tunnel leading upwards towards Moaning Myrtle's bathroom at last. Lydjah, Jayna, Albus, Scorpius and James raised their hands. "Their names?" Lydjah failed to see how the question was relevant but answered anyway.

"Rory." James and Sam looked at her in disbelief.

"Why?" Both of them knew of Rory Jordan's stalkerish tendencies towards her last year.

"Because human Rory doesn't like birds and I thought it ironic to name it after him." Sam and James shrugged at this explanation and turned to Jayna.

"Rowena." Jayna said firmly. Her tone didn't stop James from snorting which seemed to be her cue to glare daggers at him again. "Shut up she's a Hell of a lot better than your precocious prat."

"And the precocious prat is called?" Molly interjected, interrupting what was sure to be a useless, petty and awfully long argument.

"Merlin." James huffed. Molly nodded professionally.

"What's yours called Al?" She asked, turning to him. James let out a full-blown snigger at the question.

"Coo." Albus said, ignoring his brother's smirking.

"Why?" Jayna inquired, sensing there was more to the story if James' snickers were anything to go by.

"Because I didn't know what an owl was when I first got him, at the age of four may I add, so I just named him after the noise he made." Most of them made cute faces at the idea of four-year-old Albus running around chasing after 'Coo'.

"And Scorp?" Molly finally asked, "What's yours called?" He squirmed uncomfortably.

"Gansey."

"That's not too bad." Molly said comfortingly while Lien bit back a smile.

"The Third." He finished. Most of the group tried to stifle their guffaws but the Gryffindors had no such grace.

"Wait; how are the owls going to know to pick up the note?" Albus asked. The group froze halfway through their laughter, suddenly stumped.

"I've got it!" Jayna exclaimed excitedly.

"What?" Lydjah asked, smiling at her friend's enthusiasm.

"Rory is obsessed with peanut butter right? So put some on the note!" Everyone looked at her like she was insane.

"Because one of us just randomly has peanut butter in their pockets?" James asked sarcastically. Jayna reached into the right pocket of her robe and drew out a mini jar of peanut butter sheepishly. "What the Hell? Why?"

"Useful things remember? Food for Lydjah's pet that would otherwise peck me to death is on the top ten of useful things." Ignoring their scepticism Lydjah drew out a piece of parchment from her pocket and Scorpius produced a battered quill. They ended up having to write with the muddy water, despite James' eager suggestion that they write in blood. Sam was voted to write the note as Lee was most likely to read a note from her missing girlfriend before anyone else.

_Lee,  
This may be the most random thing I've ever asked you to do but if you go to the First-Floor and to the suspiciously blank wall that's directly above the Great Hall you'll be able to walk through it like the Nine and Three Quarters barrier into Myrtle's bathroom and yeah we're stuck at the bottom of the giant slide that's opened up in the sinks please help. Don't get the teachers we could get expelled._

_Love you,  
Sam_

Jayna took the note when Sam had finished and smeared the edges with peanut butter and wiping her finger on the back of her robes when she was done ("It's not as if they can get anymore messy and I hate peanut butter.").

"Ok, does anyone actually know how to do the banishing charm?" The other six turned to the Ravenclaws at James' words who looked affronted.

"That's fourth year magic! We do go to school with you, you know; we learn at the same pace as anyone else."

"I know the incantation," Jayna added, "but Lydjah's right; just because we're from the house of the wise doesn't mean we can suddenly do magic that's two years ahead of us."

"What's the incantation?"

"Depulso."

"Ok so if we all concentrate on the Owlery and say Depulso maybe the combined force of our magic will work?" The other seven gave James doubtful looks but obediently got into a circle around the letter and pointed their wands at it. "You ready? Ok; on three; one, two-"

" _Depulso_!" They chorused together. There was a brief flash of white light and the letter disappeared.

"Do you think it worked?" Jayna asked worriedly.

"I say we give it two hours and if Lee doesn't come up to get us we think of something else ok?" Jayna nodded slowly, surprising everyone by agreeing to James.

"So now we wait?" Lien asked timidly, rather put-down at the idea of having to stand for hours or, alternatively, sit in all the muck she was currently ruining her shoes in.

"Now we wait." Scorpius agreed.

 

Lee Wright did not get surprised. She'd decided this after her parents had suddenly sprung on her the idea of moving to England, in order 'to go to a better school'. She was rather bored with most things; nothing was intriguing to her; not people, not magic, not algebra or literature.

She'd gone out with Sam because Sam was interesting.

Not unbelievably so, not to the point where anyone thought she was strange (like Lydjah) or that she had a problem (like Jayna) but just refreshingly interesting. Sam was Lee, if Lee could be surprised.

Lee took the letter off Lydjah's owl written in her girlfriend's handwriting with piqued interest, but still not surprise. She read through it and her interest only increased, but she still was not surprised. Of course Sam, and most probably James, and considering the owl; Lydjah, and considering Lydjah and Jayna's relationship; Jayna, and considering irony; those two Hufflepuffs, and considering their affiliations; probably those two Slytherins as well, would do something as stupid as falling down a slide and having no way to get back up. Of course they would.

She followed the instructions on the note without delay, smiling internally at Oscar's flinch as she walked past him on her way out of the Common Room. No-one had apologised for how they'd treated Jayna since the incident in February, and while no-one did anything particularly hateful towards her there was still an air of suspicion and a cold shoulder that surrounded her, as it had done when she'd first joined Ravenclaw the year before. Jayna had asked Lydjah to stop trying to find out who it was, saying that she really couldn't be bothered. Lee was a little worried about the girl; Jayna always loved information but lately she looked too haunted and exhausted most of the time to care about anything past school work. Lee assumed it was because of the nightmares that kept waking them all up with her screaming, or possibly James Potter, because Lee had overheard Lydjah and Jayna talking about some unwanted information that James held about Jayna's family. Lee had also assumed it was none of her business and getting involved might lead her… Well she supposed to wherever her girlfriend currently was.

When she'd reached the sinks (again not surprised, unfortunately) she cocked her head to the side and hummed, as she always did when she was thinking.

She placed her wand at her throat and cast the amplifying charm on her voice. "HELLO?"

There was pause. "LEE?" Jayna's amplified voice greeted her as if from very far away. Lee raised her eyebrows; how far down was this slide?

"THANK MERLIN!" Lydjah's called gratefully. She'd been right about their involvement, of course she had.

"HEY!" Her girlfriend shouted. Lee tried not to smile.

"PLEASE HURRY UP; I'M DYING FOR A PISS!" Lee laughed at James' comment.

"GIVE ME A MOMENT TO THINK OF A PLAN ALRIGHT?"

"SURE!" Sam called.

"JUST HURRY THE FUCK UP!" James added. There was a sound of scuffling and Lee shook her head as she analysed the situation. She loved that they'd called on her; the top students and the unbeatable pranksters couldn't do it but they believed she could.

"I THINK I'VE GOT AN IDEA." She shouted down.

"WHAT IS IT?"

"YOU ASCENDIO YOURSELVES THEN CAST THE GRIPPING CHARM AND CLIMB UP. ONCE YOU'VE GOT TO WHERE I CAN SEE YOU, I'LL USE CARPE RETRACTUM TO PULL YOU UP."

"HOW DO YOU KNOW CARPE RETRACTUM?" Jayna asked. "WE DON'T GET TAUGHT THAT TILL NEXT YEAR."

"MY DAD TAUGHT ME IT. HE USED IT TO PULL ROCKS AROUND SO HE DIDN'T HAVE TO LIFT THEM WHEN HE WAS BUILDING. HE SAID IT WAS VERY USEFUL SO HE TAUGHT ME IT OVER THE SUMMER, DESPITE ME INSISTING THAT I NEVER WANT TO BE A BUILDER, NEVER MIND THAT HE'S NOT ONE EITHER. GUESS IT IS USEFUL AFTER ALL."

"THE GRIPPING CHARM WILL ONLY WORK ON THE LESS THAN VERTICAL BITS." Albus pointed out. Lee rolled her eyes; she'd been right about the Slytherins too.

"I KNOW; THAT'S WHY YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO KEEP ASCENDIO-ING YOURSELVES." There was another pause while the eight of them considered this.

"Molly's broken her ankle." Lien reminded them. Molly tried to wave this off but it was clear she was looking rather ill at the prospect of putting any weight on it. Jayna screwed up her nose as if she was smelling something unpleasant.

"I know a spell that can remove all the bones in your ankle so you won't feel anything there but it will take ages to regrow the bones afterwards and it's quite painful; the regrowing that is." Molly winced. "Well technically the spell's not supposed to do that but that's what happens when you do the spell wrong and seeing as I have had no practice at healing magic that's probably what's going to happen."

"What if you do it right?"

"Then it'll fix the bones in your ankle. But I'm not going to do it right because that's really advanced magic. I only know about it because I went looking up healing magic after being treated in St Mungos. It's really interesting-"

"I'm going to cut that one off right there before you go on an hour long fangirl over healing magic." Lydjah interrupted. Jayna rolled her eyes and pouted but shut up.

"It's up to you Mol." Al said, looking at his cousin. Molly bit her lip.

"Ok."

"Ok?" Jayna inquired, checking she's interpreted correctly.

"Ok; do the spell." Jayna extinguished her wand light and walked over to Molly. Without having to be asked, James came and held his wand over his cousin so that Jayna could see. She smiled at him as she got rid of the splint on Molly's ankle, carefully unwrapping it.

"This would be so much easier if I could do Vanishing spells." Jayna huffed as Molly winced for the third time. "Ok done. You ready?" Molly nodded. "Brackium Emendo!" For a second it seemed as if nothing had happened and then Molly's foot suddenly drooped like a dead flower. Seven of them stared at in disgust barring Jayna who personally found it, while odd-looking, really interesting.

"OK WE'VE DECIDED." James yelled up to Lee. "WE'LL DO IT ONE AT A TIME SO THAT WE DON'T KNOCK EACH OTHER OFF IF WE SLIP. YOU HAD BETTER BE WAITING NEAR THE TOP LEE OR MY ARMS WILL GIVE OUT AND I'M GOING FIRST BECAUSE OTHERWISE I AM GOING TO PISS MYSELF." He concluded.

"ALRIGHT."

"ASCENDIO!" There was a beat and then, "OW! SHIT!" a soft thump and continued cussing.

"YOU OK?" Lee called down.

"FINE JUST HIT MY HEAD. DO YOU GUYS MIND GIVING ME SOME LIGHT? YOUR END TOO PLEASE LEE."

"SURE THING." She pointed her wand into the slide and lit it, carefully making sure she wasn't too close to the edge, although she trusted her balance from Quidditch so she was sure she'd be fine.

She waited patiently as James clambered up the slide. She heard his disgusted shout as she put his hand in something unpleasant (rhymes with hat fit). It took a good number of tries and a lot of rather inventive swearing before she saw the top of James' unruly hair poking round the first corner.

"JEEZ SHINE THE LIGHT IN MY EYES MUCH." He squinted at her as he looked up.

"SORRY." She moved the light to the side slightly. His fingers looked like they were about to give out, gripping charm or not. "YOU READY?" He nodded. She sized him up and then used a temporary sticking charm to keep her feet on the floor just in case. "CARPE RETRACTUM!"

James tried to stay as still as possible not really wanting to be dropped but it was hard when he really needed the loo. She braced her feet and pulled her wand up, dragging him up with it before depositing him on the ground, not all too lightly. She expected him to say something stupid but instead he just rolled onto his feet and sprinted into the closest cubicle.

"ALL GOOD." She called down. "NEXT ONE?" One by one each of the remaining seven were put back on surface level. Molly took a good while longer than the rest of them and Lee looked ready to explode with questions when she saw the state of her foot. Sam deliberately left herself till last knowing Lee wouldn't ask questions until she'd got Sam up but she'd very nearly had a panic attack at the bottom of the slide, hating herself for not having utter faith in her friends waiting for her.

As soon as Sam got up the other seven thanked her profusely and then disappeared from the room, going their separate directions as they had already agreed to meet up the next day. Lee frowned but before she could get out more than a syllable of a question Sam was kissing her quite relentlessly and honestly she forgot whatever she was going to say after that.


	63. Of Timetable Changes and the Realisation that Sleep is Going To Become a Not Often Affordable Luxury

The eight of them met up by the statue of the One-Eyed Witch after dinner (Molly didn't get let out of the Hospital Wing until then; Madam Longbottom was very upset to hear that she'd tried to perform a healing spell on herself after falling off a broom, and naturally she'd blamed James who'd dropped his cousin off there, much to his annoyance). They'd been shooting each other looks through the corridors and the classrooms all day; quick 'you alright?' glances and sending back the 'yeah I'm fine' nods. There was a tense kind of excitement running through them all; for some it was a 'I can't believe I agreed to this stupid idiotic idea that's going to get us all killed' denial kind of anticipation, for the others it was a 'when is dinner going to over I can't wait to get started' kind of agitation.

When they finally all arrived there was an explosion of 'how are you?'s and 'how did it go with Lee?'s, despite the looks through the corridors. All of them had bruises left, right and centre and a few scrapes here and there but were generally more emotionally shattered than physically. Surprisingly, Molly now looked the best because her ankle was good as new again, and she was certainly the most cheerful though they all thought she was probably just trying to hide her terror from almost being sucked into that hole yesterday. She thanked Scorpius profusely (who blushed and said it was nothing) and then the seven of them turned to Jayna when she coughed politely.

"Ok so we're all still ok for deciding to participate in these tests?" They nodded. "Alright so the last thing that thing said was that we had to find it, right? And considering it's never been found, and from the passage in that book, it's safe to assume this thing is deep below the castle, yes? So I suggest we search in all the known places beneath the castle and go from there."

"When can we search though?" Scorpius asked. "I'm sure everyone's got commitments and stuff."

"That's true." Jayna agreed.

"Let's just run through them." Albus suggested, taking out his timetable. Everyone followed suit barring James who'd lost his on the fourth day back and had simply followed Sam around for the rest of the year. "Ok, what about an hour after dinner on Wednesdays?"

"Nah we've got Astronomy then." Sam shot down.

"An hour after dinner on Thursdays and Fridays?" Molly asked. Everyone looked at their timetables (or, in James' case, over Sam's shoulder at hers).

"Looks good to me." Lydjah agreed.

"I don't think that's enough though." Lien interjected. "I mean this place is huge. If we want any hope of finding it before the end of the year we've got to be able to search for more than an hour at a time."

"I don't want to search more than an hour on a school night though, especially not with exams coming up." Jayna pointed out. Sam and James scoffed at this but didn't appear to be in a hurry to give up their Friday nights either.

"What about a bit of the weekend mornings too?"

"We've got to practice Quidditch for at least one of those mornings." James disagreed.

"Ok well what about Saturday morning from breakfast till lunch and Sunday afternoon from lunch till dinner? We can always finish early if we want to." The other seven found themselves nodding to Jayna's suggestion.

"Sounds good." James said. "Shall we meet here? I mean I know it's a bit out of the way but at least if we're being tailed no-one's going to think we'll be searching under the school if we start out here." There was a disbelieving pause. "Plus we all know where it is." He amended. They agreed.

"If that's all decided can everyone past your timetables here?" Jayna asked. They all handed them over, looking confused. " _Gemino_!" She tapped Sam's first creating another copy of Sam's timetable to give to James. She tapped each of them again, muttering something unintelligible under her breath, and then handed them back.

The times that they'd decided to meet up now read as;  
TUTORING  
ONE-EYED WITCH STATUE  
ANDREWS, BLACKWOOD, DAWSON, IRBY, MALFOY, A POTTER, J POTTER, WEASLEY  
omitting the name of whoever's timetable it was.

"I wish I could use something like the Protean Charm." Jayna said sadly. "But that's NEWT level Charms work. I'm afraid that's the best I can do." Everyone thanked her anyway and then they all slowly left in groups of twos to their Common Rooms, after finally getting James to agree to bring the Marauder's Map on Thursday.

The first search party meeting started them off in the Slytherin corner of the school. Most of them were vaguely traumatised by the sheer amount of scantily dressed couples they accidently found (Lydjah was unfortunately very used to it by now and was taking great amusement out of how much everyone else was suffering). The Prefects on duty later that night (Killian and Emma) were very surprised to find the majority of the snogging couples near the top of the school, where they were most likely to get caught and when they reached the Slytherin corner ended up abandoning their fruitless search to become one of the snogging couples themselves (a moment Emma would later blame on the late hour and the fact she was on a sugar-high (from the food Killian had nabbed from the Kitchens specially for her), and a moment Killian would hold very dearly in his memories for quite possibly the rest of his life).

However before this occurred, the eight kids had just found a room that was constantly raining. They opened the door, immediately wished they hadn't, spotted another door at the other end of the room and plunged head first into a storm. It was strange, because the rain was the sort of rain that's so heavy it hurts to land on your arm, causing coin-size red marks kind of rain, and yet there was no wind or dark clouds. There was two seconds of blindly fumbling through the room, not being able to see by the sheer amount of water running down their faces and then Jayna popped open an umbrella. Immediately she became literally everyone's favourite person. Jayna was a fan of the rain normally, but they had a task to complete and this rain was painful to stand in.

"Where the Hell did you get that umbrella from?" James asked. A second later he didn't care as he was shoved out from under it by Lien's freezing elbows. There was a fair amount of squabbling about the umbrella until Sam had the good sense to engorge it so they could all fit. Jayna suddenly remembered the Impervius Charm but thought it probably wasn't the best time to point this out. They all struggled to the other door, slipping several times on their way there, and threw it open only to find themselves behind a shelf in the Potions supply cupboard. James and Sam were very pleased to find an alternate route to steal potions supplies to make more pranks (something that all six of the others heartily discouraged them from trying without consulting someone with adequate Potions knowledge about the effects beforehand, not that they listened), but it was a rather useless room otherwise.

They tramped out again and dried themselves off.

"What else have you got in your bloody robes Jayna? And how is that not heavy?"

"Since October I've mastered the feather-light charm so I can store quite a bit now."

"Show us then." She studied him, making sure he wasn't joking before shrugging and sitting down in the corridor, preparing for a lot of explaining. The other seven sat too, none of them even remotely interested in continuing until they'd had a rest.

"Burn paste, peanut-butter for Rory, spare parchment, spare quills, spare ink," the inkpot was wrapped in bubble-wrap, something James found extremely amusing and she ended up having to hide it so he'd stop popping the bubbles, "they're pretty self-explanatory, a key to Lydjah's house; just in case, a candle; in case I need light but also need to use my wand, ten galleons, six knuts and five sickles; you never know when you'll need change, tampons-" At this Scorpius spluttered like she'd brought out a thong or something equally inappropriate and Albus blushed bright red but to her surprise James only nodded like it was a good choice of things to be about her person (which was true but she thought it would've been funnier if he'd at least pulled a face), "again self-explanatory, or at least I'm not going to explain it to you if you don't know, this… Medicinial?"

"Medicine." Lydjah corrected.

"Yes medicine called 'Paracetamol' which Sophia said Muggle Healers use to stop pain-"

"It doesn't stop pain it just prevents you from feeling it." Lydjah interrupted again. Jayna looked horrified.

"It cuts off your ability to _feel_?"

"You do know this only prevents physical pain right Jayna? It just… Confuses some of your body chemistry so you don't register that it hurts."

"Why doesn't it work on emotional pain?" Lydjah threw her hands in the air exasperatedly.

"I don't know; I'm not a Doctor!" Jayna frowned.

"Fine, yeah Sophia gave it to me just in case Lydjah gets a headache; don't know why she wouldn't just go to the Hospital Wing-"

"Mum doesn't know we have a Hospital Wing."

"Surely Muggle boarding schools have Hospital Wings?"

"Well she wouldn't know because she didn't go to a boarding school."

"Oh right, yeah. Anyway, I've got them, a camera, the photo album my sister got me-"

"Why do you have that?" James asked, interested. Lydjah winced, expecting something either angry or teary to come from Jayna in response.

"I just need to look at the photos in it sometimes." She said, not an ounce of anything other than honesty in her voice. Lydjah caught James' expression just before he changed it and almost laughed aloud. He knew exactly what he was doing with that question, sneaky bastard; that was his way of checking Jayna was ok and by the looks of things she'd passed admirably. "I've also got some water, a snack bar because they don't go off, a pair of sunglasses because I'm optimistic and, of course, this umbrella." She finished. James whistled.

"Jeez-Louise mate."

"Sorry?"

"Nevermind. You look to be a good person to be with if we get stranded in the wilderness." Jayna laughed as she replaced all her various paraphernalia before standing up and offering a hand to Lydjah, and then dropping it just as quickly. Sam watched the exchange with confusion as she hopped up herself.

"Oh; Lydjah doesn't liked to be helped up." Jayna explained quickly, chuckling at Sam's bewildered expression. She extended her hand to James instead who took it without thinking and was pulled up as he marvelled at how much they'd progressed from that awkward hug at Christmas.

"Thanks mate." He let go of her hand as soon as it was appropriate and thought no more of it. In contrast, Jayna would overanalyse this moment a total of one-hundred and fifty-eight times in the coming years but not for the reason you might believe. Again, of course, that's _later_.

They ended up saying for an hour and a half that night to finish the rest of the Slytherin corner of the school. They found nothing more after that than empty closets (or even worse, couple-filled closets) and dropped Scorpius and Al off at their Common Room feeling a little downhearted.

When they met up on the Friday, Lydjah suggested making a list of all the previously recorded and possible areas (therefore not the teacher's offices etc) under the school to give them a start. James argued that if they'd been recorded it probably meant what they were supposed to be finding wasn't there but Sam pointed out that it could manifest and disappear at will so it wouldn't be found until it wanted to be, no matter how many times you went through the room it was in.

Their list compiled of twenty-eight places in all; _Boathouse, Boathouse passageway, Chamber of Secrets, Dark Hall, Deathday Party Hall, Detention escape route, Dungeons, Dungeon Corridor,Dungeon Five, Dungeon Staircase, Forgotten Cavern, Hieroglyphic Hall, Hogwarts Basement, Hufflepuff Basement, Lost Tunnel, Lower Chambers Corridor North-East, Lower Chambers Corridor West, Lower Chambers Portrait Corridor, Poltergeist Passage, Porticus Circumscriptus, Porticus Periculum, Porticus Imago, Prowling Passage, Room of Doom, Room of Runes, Slug Pit_ , and _the Underground Chambers_ , and they'd already covered twelve of them.

They decided, therefore (after a very long trip to the library that cost them more than a few strange looks from the librarian as to why the school's top pranksters and co suddenly wanted to know more about Hogwarts' history), to search two each meeting, assuming they weren't on opposite sides of the castle, and no more, in order to keep up some semblance of a sleeping pattern.

That night they checked out the Boathouse and the Passageway and were not at all surprised to find nothing as it was probably a later addition to the school, and therefore wasn't put there at the time of its founding.

In the weeks that followed our eight students would each get told off a different points in class for passing notes, falling asleep and for 'intolerable amounts of mischievous grins' as Professor Jordan would put it. They would search half the school and find nothing but friendship, which in their minds was ten times better. They would all attend a detention, without actually receiving one, and in doing so accidently show Jerry Rigden the Detention Escape Route from the Trophy Room. They did, of course, then have to pretend to be the ghosts of some evil children who'd been locked down there (using Lydjah's foundation that had kindly been labelled 'ivory' but really meant 'deathly-pale you should see a Healer') in order to make sure he never came down there again.

But in the end, all they really wanted for was to discover what they'd been searching for. In this case the old saying is prudent; you really _must_ be careful what you wish for; it might just come true.


	64. Of Final Finds and Passing Tests

It wasn't until the last Friday of May that they found it; a skinny single door, nestled between the Lower Chambers corridor North-East and the Porticus Cicumscriptus.

They'd been about to throw it all in really, trying to convince themselves that the image of the future that who/whatever had shown them in the Chamber of Secrets had been naught but a bad dream, but Molly had felt a tightening in her gut as her eyes fell upon the folded piece of parchment that obstructed their current search through the corridor. She'd picked it up, and, with fingers trembling, carefully unfolded it, and began to read the neat handwriting that appeared on the page.

The others had crowded round her, those who were too impatient reading awkwardly over her shoulder (Jayna, James and Sam) and then the parchment had been passed around to the others and then back to James who hadn't finished reading it the first time round. They all agreed on the words that were written though;

_Instruction: North is always a good direction to head in_

_Hello again!_

_I see you've completed your second Starter test. Congratulations! About time too, young Molly; I was starting to get worry that those Hufflepuff finding instincts of yours had been misjudged._

_Anyway, on to your third Starter test. To make a few rules clear from here on out;_

_Each time you complete a task you will be sent back outside this door and your next instruction will await you. For some of the tasks, the rules will apply around this section of the corridor as well. You will know if that is to be the case because your instructions will not appear until you've finished that task. Once a new set of instructions appear you are free to leave until you take on the next task. Some tasks will have time limits, others will not. Failing to complete the task before the time limit would be very unwise. Some tasks will require all eight of you to complete but do not be fooled by the ones that do not- you can only complete each task as a team._

_Remember- you are still mortal in here. Do try not to die. This will be the most fun I've had in ages._

_Finally, to introduce myself; I am the Guardian of the Secret they thought they could hide. I have been waiting a long time to meet you._

The door next to them swung open as James absorbed the final word. They all shared a glance that had the same effect as taking a deep breath before diving underwater, and then James plunged into the room.

The room was incomprehensibly large. There was no back wall, and no side walls that you could see; it stretched on too far. The ceiling didn't exist, or rather; the sky had been captured and hung on the ceiling; stars twinkling brightly down on them in the pitch black. As promised the door had swung shut behind them and disappeared leaving them stood alone on an empty shore. It was a shore, for not two metres in front of them rested a huge midnight lake, the inky black waters lapping gently at the dark blue looking sand. It was the kind of night that you couldn't see three steps in front of you but the clouds had completely parted leaving all of time and space visible above your head, until it made you dizzy from the vast beauty of it. A million points of familiar light glimmered down to them, constellations that were recognised even by their amateur star-gazing abilities.

They all reeled for a second, forgetting the task, each other, their surroundings; everything but the vision that was above them. This was the kind of scene that you would remember all the way to your death bed; a memory like seeing your newborn child for the first time or the moment when you realise you've made a friend that will last a lifetime; this memory was too amazing to give up easily. When they finally regained sense of their bodies, starting from the tingling in their fingers to the steady thumps of their hearts, it was to take in the last piece of the scenery; a large wooden rowing boat that had a telescope and a lever for steering at one end, big sweeping oars in the centre, and surprise of all surprises, eight seats.

"What do you think the task is?" James whispered, reluctant to break the silence. At his voice the others seemed to stir out of their residual stupor and group together again.

"What was the instruction again?" Lien asked.

"'North is always a good direction to head in' I think." Jayna recited.

"I'm guessing we have to row that boat to the other side of the lake? In a north direction?" Lydjah summarised.

"How on earth do we know which direction north is though?" Sam pointed out. Jayna and Scorpius gave her a look. "What?"

"The stars, love." Scorpius smirked. Sam narrowed her eyes teasingly at him.

"Alright smart-arse. And I suppose you know which stars you use to find North?"

"Do you not?" Jayna asked, incredulously. "It's only what we've been learning in Astronomy for the past eight months." The rest of the group barring her and Scorpius looked away. "Seriously? None of you? How do you manage to pass all the tests?" At this the second years gave Jayna a pointed look and the first years gestured at Scorpius. "Oh for goodness sake."

"Oh get off your high horse Jay-Jay; you would've barely scraped a pass on that last Herbology test if it wasn't for me." Lydjah said, rolling her eyes.

"I didn't cheat though. I just copied all your notes before the test and used them for revision instead of my own awful ones." Jayna pointed out. There was one glaring flaw in Jayna's personality (there were several others but this was the most obviously apparent) and that was her inability to admit she was wrong. Ever. That included apologies. She just didn't do them. Usually Lydjah would've argued this point with her but they had a task to do so she let it go (another thing Jayna was incapable of doing). "Besides, I only just passed with your notes. You're barely better at Herbology than I am." Jayna teased. Lydjah raised an eyebrow, not about to be out-witted.

"Jay a two year old Muggle would be better than you at Herbology."

"Are you saying you're a two year old Muggle?" Scorpius cut across the Ravenclaws' easy banter by clearing his throat.

"You use Polaris, otherwise known as the North Star." He answered the original question as they began to clamber in the boat. "How about we do this; Jayna and I will navigate seeing as we're the only ones who can point out the North Star and one of us needs to dictate the other one on the steering by using the telescope. The rest of you can take it in turns to row. It looks as if four people are supposed to row in one go so you six can rotate round say, every ten minutes? I'd say go in pairs of weakest with strongest etc so we don't end up in circles." Lien nodded.

"Ok so that's me and Sam, James and Molly and Albus and Lydjah." To their surprise James didn't try to insist he was stronger than Sam; he knew she'd only challenge him to an arm-wrestle that he was sure to lose on account of her training to be a Beater. While he thought that if they were lifting something, which required leg and back strength as well as arm muscles, he might stand a chance, he knew that Sam could beat him hands down purely on the latter.

It took a few fairly hilarious minutes for them to get the hang of rowing during which they span round in three complete circles making the stars seem as if they were wheeling overhead. Jayna wanted nothing more than to whip out her notebook, lie down in the middle of the boat and just write whatever ever came to her head but she knew they had to get moving if they wanted any chance of reaching the opposite shore by nightfall in the real world. She decided to do the steering and leave the dictation to Scorpius who for some reason actually enjoyed the subject of Astronomy.

And so they rowed. For ten minutes, twenty, thirty, fifty, ninety. It was when they had been rowing for around a hundred that James finally asked for everyone to stop. They sat, exhausted or guilty (depending on whether they had been the tireless rowers or the navigators who were looking at the rowers with sympathy), motionless in the dark ink. They could no longer see the shore they had set out from and, try as they might, straining their eyes under the telescope, they couldn't see the other promised shore either.

"Maybe we interpreted the task wrong." Lydjah proposed, pulling her cloak a little tighter around herself. Jayna noted the gesture with narrowed eyes, and then realised she was shivering herself.

"Why are we shivering if we're not cold?" Jayna managed to force out between her chattering teeth. The other seven looked at their shaking hands with confusion.

"We're so cold we're not even registering that we're cold?" James suggested. No-one liked this idea.

"I don't think so." Scorpius frowned. "Maybe the room's trying to tell us we're near the north? It's cold in the north right?"

"Yeah but it's cold at the South Pole too. Plus if we were that near it surely we'd be able to see it by now?"

"Unless that's the test." Sam mumbled.

"What?"

"What if the test isn't just as simple as getting to the other side of the lake? What if it's getting to the other side of the lake even if you know the other side of the lake isn't there?"

"What?" Lien asked again, struggling to comprehend the idea. "So we've all got to accept that the other side of the lake isn't there but try to find it anyway?"

"Not try to find; just find."

"But how can we find it if it isn't there?!"

"That's the point! We can't! The object of the test is to follow the instructions to the letter even if we know they're hopeless instructions. It's what a good soldier would do."

"And you know what about being a soldier?" Molly scoffed. Sam stiffened.

"I know a bit. My Dad's in the army." Molly blushed and muttered an apology that Sam waved off easily.

"What's the army?" Jayna asked gently but curiously, guessing this was a sensitive topic.

"It's like a Muggle mix of the Auror department and the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol." James explained. "Basically it's a huge group of people that fight for our country in other countries usually for good things like freeing the oppressed and stuff."

"And who are they fighting against?"

"Erm sometimes other countries' armies." Jayna gathered it was probably a bit more complicated than that but she accepted the idea anyway.

"Right. And they fight with what? Their fists?"

"No. At least not most of the time. They fight with explosions and guns."

"'Guns'?"

"They're like wands that only shoot killing curses but they only kill a person if they aim it at the right place otherwise the, er, 'curse' just goes through their leg or something and they have to go to the Doc- Healers." James summed up.

"Oh. And how do they cause the explosions without magic?" Listening to Jayna ask questions was making Sam seriously doubt her disadvantage as a Muggleborn. Through her eyes it looked more like Jayna was at a disadvantage. Sam had lived as a Muggle for eleven years and she understood that world. While she may not completely understand the magical world yet she basically understood it as the Muggle world with different prejudices and spells that made everything ten times easier, as well as ten times more dangerous. But she couldn't really imagine going from Pureblood to Muggle; you'd have to learn how to do literally everything without magic. All the science and electricity that she knew how to use and took for granted would be so difficult to learn without growing up surrounded by it.

"Er Sam? A little help?" James asked. Sam shrugged.

"You know certain ingredients in Potions you're not allowed to mix together because they become highly explosive? They basically use ingredients like them called chemicals and mix them together and then throw them as the opposition." That was a much more simplified version but at least Jayna understood.

"Cool." She blushed then. "Oops I've got us totally off topic. Right so if what Sam suggested is true what is with this whole shivering lark?"

"What if this task has a time limit?" Albus suggested.

"What? Surely it would've said…" James trailed off. "Besides what does shivering have to do with it?"

"I'd suggest we finish the task as quickly as possible so we don't have to find out what happens first-hand if you get Hypothermia. Us shivering is a countdown. The more symptoms of being cold we display, the less time we have left." Lydjah said quietly. They didn't know if she was guessing or it was some part of her sixth sense driving her words but everyone accepted the idea without question.

"That is the sneakiest fucking countdown ever." James exploded, outraged at this under the table trickery.

"Potter, just because you are literally the bluntest most honour-bound person to ever exist doesn't mean the rest of the world will follow your example." James raised his eyebrows.

"That sounded like half a compliment Blackwood."

"Don't get your hopes up." She muttered.

The eight of them settled back into their places and prepared themselves to row onwards, despite knowing they would never find their destination. It was a very down-heartening thought but they carried it with them anyway, refusing to believe they would ever find it… In order to find it. It was very confusing. Most of them decided to not think about it at all.

They'd only been rowing for a few minutes when their oars struck sand and the nose of the boat scraped along the sea floor. Try as they might they couldn't get the boat to go any further. The eight of them wandered over to the right side and peered down into the black waters.

"I'm guessing we have to swim from now on?" Albus asked. Jayna snorted.

"It'll only be swimming for the likes of you and Lien; the rest of us not-vertically-challenged people will be merely paddling."

"If you're so confident you should go first." Albus retorted. A grin split Jayna's lips.

"Well if you don't mind." She got out her wand and tapped her robe pocket with it. " _Impervius_!" With that protected, she slipped her wand into the pocket and stood up on the edge of the boat. With another flash of her magically-straightened teeth she jumped off into the water with a yell of delight, curling her legs up into a ball. The other seven took a step back as the splash of her impact jumped up to greet them before her hair reappeared above the water-level, along with her shoulders. She tossed her hair from side to side like a dog making the short strands appear to resist gravity. "It's freezing!" She laughed, hugging her arms round herself and then plunging back under the water again. "Merlin I've wanted to go swimming for ages!" Lydjah couldn't help but smile at the bemusement on everyone else's faces.

"Jayna's a hydrophilic through and through. I swear she was a mermaid in a past life."

"Hey Ariel!" Sam called down. Jayna didn't get the reference but it looked like Lien did by the way she was holding back giggles. "Can you touch the floor?"

"Yeah!" Jayna shouted back. "When I'm stood flat-footed my head and shoulders are still out of the water."

"Alright then; budge out of the way the rest of us want to get in too." Molly and Scorpius gave her looks that clearly indicated they did not want to 'get in too' but Jayna's enthusiasm was contagious. "What was the spell you did so your robe pocket didn't get wet?"

"Impervius!"

"Right. And how do you do it?"

"Just tap whatever you're trying to protect. It doesn't have a light or anything."

Following Jayna's lead they all protected various parts of their clothing. James, to the scoffing of everyone else, did his hair as well. "Guys we've got to jump off equally from each side otherwise the boat will tip over." Albus pointed out.

"Ok let's have me, Lydjah and Lien on this side and you guys go to the other." James suggested. They all complied and soon were all stood, wobbling, both from anticipation and also their increasing shivers, on their chosen side of the boat. "Ready? Three, two, one; JUMP!" With several yelps the remaining seven plunged into the midnight-blue waters. Each of them came up cursing the temperature, finally feeling like they were shivering for a good reason.

"Not wanting to burst your bubble mate but we should get moving." James said through blue lips as he reached Jayna. Jayna pouted but resisted the urge to splash him as he looked cold enough already.

"Alright let's go." The eight regrouped and set off, alternating between swimming and walking, having to choose the latter more and more often as they got closer. It was ridiculously hard trying to convince themselves that they weren't going anywhere, especially as every time they did the ground sloped up just that little bit further.

It was slow going but their resolve was hardened when Lien slipped into the water without meaning to and came up again spluttering and coughing. When they realised that she'd fallen because of her increasingly more spasm-like shivers their despair had only deepened meaning their road got ten times easier.

Ten minutes later (with two more falls from Lien and a trip up from Albus) Molly swore loudly. The other seven stopped in their shock; it was very rare that a Hufflepuff, particularly ones with dispositions like Molly, to swear. She held out her hands for them to see. Apart from their scarily visible shakes and pale blue colour they also had red hives covering the palms. "Iii'm alllergicc to tthe cccoldd." She managed to get out through cracking lips. She bit her tongue in the process but was rather relieved because the warm trickle of blood that filled her mouth with a metallic tang put a little bit of heat back into her body. "Cccallledd Ccoldd-urticcaria."

"I'm 'ot shlivering anymore." Lien slurred, sounding faintly confused by this, but not at all panicked. Lydjah shook her friend by the shoulders, startling her and forcing her to look directly into Lydjah's eyes.

"Lllienn wwhen the shivverring sttops it means tthe hypothherrmia is getting worrse. Yyou've gottt to cconcenttrate." Lien nodded seriously but her gaze was already slipping. She tried to reach and brush some hair out of her eyes but she ended up hitting herself in the face. Lydjah stared worriedly at Lien.

"Wwwe're nottt going tto makkke itt." Sam finally voiced what they were all thinking, stumbling over to her shortest friend. "Ssstupiddd ccountddown." The seven of them crowded in a group around Lien, desperately trying to warm her up, even though she wasn't cold. Albus was gripping James and Jayna's shoulders, holding himself out of the lake as his legs had given up and were just spasming occasionally, like fish out of water. Lien herself was being supported by Scorpius and Molly, though their support was half-hearted as their shaking elbows kept smacking into her ribcage, not that Lien was entirely there to notice. They all suddenly felt the exhaustion of walking and rowing as long as they had thread through their veins, causing each of them to stumble and knock heads with someone else. Albus slipped into the water with a small splash and no longer felt the need to get up, instead wondering just how nice it would be to close his eyes and sleep…

There was a beat.

None of them moved, none of them saw even the slightest flicker of movement, no-one blinked and yet one second they were slowly dying in endless ankle deep water and the next they were fully dry in the forgotten corridor as if they had never gone through the door in the first place. They all swayed with exhaustion but had snapped out of the cold-induced confusion that had addled their brains. Molly still had the hives covering her hands but it was a small price to pay for her life.

"We need to sleep. What time is it?" Jayna croaked. James pulled out his (extremely dulled) watch and stood, gaping at the time for a full thirty seconds.

"It's only been ten minutes." He whispered disbelievingly. The other seven shook their heads in denial of this thought.

"Right now that doesn't matter; we can deal with it in the morning. We need to sleep now so we can have some sense of rationality, or, in James' case, at least only James-induced stupidity as opposed to sleep deprivation induced madness." Lien tried to lighten up but her voice was shaky with left over fear about how close she'd come to dying. James managed a small smile at the joke at his expense and nodded in agreement.

"Lien's right. Meet here tomorrow morning after breakfast ok?"

"Sure." Lydjah yawned. Jayna swung a sleepy arm around her friend's shoulder and they traipsed off without a single word of goodbye, not that anyone really cared for courtesy at that point.


	65. Of Not Very Helpful Instructions and Creatures That Should Not Be Allowed In A School

Honestly, James should have seen this coming. They'd had a three-headed dog locked up in the school when his father was only 11. So, yeah, this really shouldn't come as a surprise.

That was James' last thought before he was thrown into the wall.

 

_Instruction; Careful; it bites!_

_Sorry about the cold and all that palaver but congrats on your third completed Starter test! In case you were wondering, you all gave up before the timer ran out meaning you accepted the inevitable. Plus, none of you even considered leaving Lien despite her being an obvious hindrance to the task. So far you've proved that you can think outside the box, you're resourceful, you're determined, and brave enough to face death in order to save a friend. Exactly what am I going to test you on now you wonder? I'll give you a hint; one in your number's fatal flaw is going to get in the way of completing this one. You've got one test left before you can start on the tasks. But will you pass it? There's only one way to find out…_

The door next to them swung open again. The eight of them glared at it suspiciously.

"'Careful it bites'?" Jayna asked sceptically. "Because that's so inviting."

"What kind of instruction is that? Are we supposed to write a book on whatever awful creature's in there? Because I don't think I'm going to be making Daily Prophet front pages with a great novella if I go in there; I'm going to make it as 'World's most idiotic group of students flung themselves into untimely deaths despite clear instruction about the perilous conditions they were going into.'" Lydjah added. Sam couldn't keep in a snort at this image which eased the tension a little.

"We've already proven that we can die in there. But it's unlikely it'll be a test where there's no possibility of us surviving." Scorpius reasoned.

"True. Why don't we just go in, wands out and hope for the best?" James' suggestion was hardly comforting but they all unsheathed their wands and struck them out determinedly anyway.

"Alright; let's go." Sam led the way in.

They were greeted with a plain boring grey corridor, wide enough for the eight of them to walk abreast if they so wished, that twisted sharply to the right maybe ten metres in front of them. It was so different from the mesmerising scene that had greeted them the day before that it felt rather like a sucker punch.

"Guys 'it' could mean anything. This corridor could be rigged with those saw things for example. You remember how subtle it was yesterday we've got to be really careful today. And if anyone notices anything about themselves that's out of the ordinary; like the shivering yesterday, be sure to alert the rest of us yeah?" Albus said. The other seven nodded and then, as a group, they took a tentative step forward. When, after five steps, nothing had happened they spread out slightly but carried on edging very carefully until they'd reached the corner.

As soon as they'd all reached the corner, no-one gave a flying fuck about edging carefully.

Staring them down was the most hideous beast any of them had ever seen. Albus was quickly flicking through _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ by Newt Scamander in his head; an act that seemed to be not only useless but also dangerous considering the situation; he ought to have been ducking for cover or running as if all the Headless Horsemen were after him. He did, however, manage to come to the conclusion that the creature in front of him was a Quintaped.

It was huge; its five hairy red-brown legs lifting it to the point where its body rested above James' head. Its clubfeet were already moving forward, its menacing black eyes, almost hidden under its mounds of thick bristly hair, like a night sky if the stars had been ripped from it, glared at them, filled with a hatred that burnt a hole into their souls. Its mouth opened in a snarl, revealing rows upon rows of sharp yellow teeth.

In our world people are, most of the time wrongly, split into many different categories; race, gender, sexuality, wealth, magical/non-magical, academic intelligence level etc. In this moment, our group only had two different categories applicable to them; those who freeze when in danger and those who act.

James, Scorpius, Lydjah, Molly and Lien fell into the former category. Despite Lien's heroics in September, being faced with an actual creature seemed to have the opposite effect. As the Quintaped charged towards them they froze solid, eyes slowly widening with fear. Albus, Sam and Jayna acted but with varying degrees of success. Albus became as useless as the first four; his brain was still thinking coherently but about the wrong things; he was identifying and analysing when he should have been running. Jayna had the instinct of self-preservation. All other thoughts left her; noble ones about saving others, stupid ones like why she'd worn those particular shoes; they all disappeared as she dived to the side, covering her head with her hands and curling into a ball as she fell.

Sam, in this case, was the recklessly brave idiot. She fired a knockback jinx at its huge feet while barrelling into one side of the frozen group, knocking them to the floor and out of the way. She didn't get all of them though.

Jayna's head lifted up, her blood singing in her ears, drowning out all other sounds, and watched, as if from very far away, the front leg of the Quintaped sail through the air even as its other four crumpled from the jinx Sam had sent, and slam directly into James' chest sending him flying backwards into the opposite wall where he made an inaudible-to-her crunching noise and slumped motionless to the floor, glasses askew and blood running from his nose. The sense of Deja vu was overwhelming; Jayna literally couldn't breathe.

"James!" Albus roared, jumping up and starting to run towards his brother. Sam was firing jinx after jinx from her position on the floor but they seemed to be having a very minimal effect. Jayna pushed herself up on her elbows, dazed, but reaching for her wand where it was lying a metre away nonetheless. They all managed to struggle up to help Sam, keeping its attention away from the Potters. They were retreating slowly, losing ground, but then Albus was behind them, somehow fully carrying James in his arms, a vein looking about to burst in his forehead and they began to run back down the corridor.

Jayna refused to leave for a second. The others called back to her as they ran, shooting spells over their shoulders but Jayna was stood, her face a mesh of conflicting emotions. She stood tall, her spine straight, eyes narrowed as she tried to stare down the monster, but her mouth was twisted in fear even as she spat out a furious relay of spells. She was still stumbling backwards; after all she wasn't stupid, but not as fast as everyone else. She couldn't give up. She couldn't fail. It was her who'd set them off on this stupid quest to find the Secret and her pride would not let her back down without a good go at it.

"JAYNA!" Sam yelled, debating whether to run back and slap the insane girl.

"WE HAVEN'T GOT TIME FOR HEROICS!" Scorpius tried, trying to appeal to Jayna's intelligence and hate of stereo-typical heroes who rushed into fights with no knowledge of the danger. This made her take several steps back but then she squared her shoulders again, determined.

"JAMES IS IN DANGER AND YOU'RE NOT HELPING!" Lydjah shrieked, a knowing look in her eyes as the words left her mouth. It was true; James was slowly losing colour in his cheeks, his eyelids were no longer even fluttering and his breaths were coming in short, shallow gasps. Jayna flinched visibly, spinning to see Albus and his injured passenger. With a snarl of annoyance, the compassion she'd spent ages trying to hide won over the pride that was causing her stupidity and she pegged it after them, overtaking the group who had frozen in surprise at her easy submission to Lydjah's words.

None of them questioned the door at the end of the corridor; Jayna threw it open as she approached barely feeling the squeeze of the doorframe as they all attempted to get through at once and then, mercifully, the door was swinging shut behind them and they were back under the castle, trying to draw breath.

"We need to get him to the Hospital Wing." Sam gasped out urgently; worry paling her face as she stared at James. "That fucking idiot." Lydjah and Sam took James from Al who promptly collapsed. They glanced back at him with concern but he gestured for them to leave tiredly, indicating he was fine. Scorpius and Lien stayed with him in order to help him back to the Slytherin dormitory and the other five set off for the Hospital Wing, already forming a plan about how to lie to Madam Longbottom this time.


	66. Of Agreements and Invitations

By Monday James was still in the Hospital Wing. Sam had told Madam Longbottom that he'd fallen down the stairs on the way to the Great Hall for dinner and slammed into the far wall. The matron hadn't been very impressed, or very convinced, but honestly she wasn't that interested in how he'd done it as long as she could heal him up. According to her, James had broken a rib, fractured his skull, splintered his tailbone, badly sprained both his legs and, by the sounds of his complaints, bruised every square inch of his back and neck. Professor Vector had asked Sam exactly what had happened and had left feeling more confused than ever muttering something about circle theorems and how they applied to conversations.

James had come round in the brief second that Madam Longbottom wasn't forcing potions down his throat and asked Sam, who hadn't considered leaving his bedside for anything except classes (which she'd considered and then decided against (not that Madam Longbottom knew that as she'd been under the cloak)) if his current condition had got him out of any schoolwork. In response she'd dumped his huge pile of catch-up homework, an identical copy of hers (a present from Jayna), on his recently healed legs.

Jayna, on her visit to the Hospital Wing after dinner, suggested researching the Quintaped in order to understand it better but Lydjah, who'd come with her, gave her a look that clearly stated that if Jayna thought she had any intention of going near that Merlin-awful room again her brain was obviously addled beyond the brink of sanity (a point that had been jokingly debated between the two for the past two years, discounting the time she had been under the potion of insanity's influence).

On Tuesday, Sam, and a heavily bandaged and bruised but recovered (right down to his cocky sense of humour), James, asked them to all meet up by the One-Eyed Witch Statue after dinner. They all did except, of course, the hosts themselves who sauntered in ten minutes afterwards with the air of I-just-got-away-with-doing-something-stupid hanging around them.

To their annoyance no-one asked where they'd been and simply waited for them to explain the purpose of the meeting. In response Sam brought out a familiar piece of paper that had new writing on it.

"This is a copy of the one… _Downstairs_."

' _Congratulations on completing the final Starter test. You were wise to realise the Quintaped was a fight you could not win._

_Please choose a category to proceed:_

_Charms_  
 _Riddles_  
 _Choices_  
 _Endurance_  
 _Illusions_ '

"What?" Jayna was the first to finish reading. "We passed?! How?"

"I guess it was testing our humility, kind of like the last one." James suggested. Jayna blinked at this perceptive interpretation.

"Who's fatal flaw was it?" Albus asked, confused. Jayna sighed.

"Mine. Hubris. It was testing whether I could sacrifice my pride in order to do the intelligent thing. And I couldn't, but I could sacrifice it if it meant my friend was in danger if I didn't so I guess there's that." James broke the tense silence, as per usual.

"Well I'm glad you could otherwise we'd all be Quintaped chow by now." They all laughed.

"Ok… So what do we do now?" Molly eventually ventured.

"Shit!" Jayna swore, looking at her new green watch (James immediately got cross at the Slytherin colour and then reprimanded himself for doing so). Everyone blinked. "Why did you have to be so fucking late? I've got to get to tutoring we'll talk later." She hurried off even as she was speaking, disappearing around the corner.

"Do you think we should mention she's going in the wrong direction to get to the library?"

 

Thursday dawned but when it was time to meet up at the One-Eyed Witch statue the Ravenclaws were nowhere to be seen. Sam and James checked the map, and, after finding them both seated in the library, they all set off to go and find out why.

When they arrived neither Jayna nor Lydjah looked the slightest bit apologetic. Jayna looked as if she hadn't slept in several days (which was true) and Lydjah was nursing a coffee under the table where the librarian couldn't see. They were surrounded by piles upon piles of textbooks on every subject they were taking and were both brandishing their wands rather fiercely at a pair of black buttons, determined to turn them back into beetles.

"No judgement Potter; end of year exams are next week and I'm going to fail all of them." James snorted at this proclamation from Jayna.

"Right," He drew out, " _Jayna Blackwood_ is going to fail the exams."

"Just because you two are some of those freakish students that don't need to revise to get good results doesn't mean that strategy will work for the rest of us." Inwardly though she was smiling at the hidden compliment. In response James took a seat next to her, drew out his wand and tapped the button with it. A split-second later, when the white light had disappeared, a beetle was scurrying across the desk. Jayna glared at him, trapping the beetle with her wall of books.

"Alright smart-arse; how do you do that?"

"Did you miss the lessons or something?" She gave him a searching look.

"We both did?" She said slowly. "When we were kidnapped?"

"Oh."

"How did you catch up then?"

"I must have asked Sam. How did you not?"

"Lydjah was having trouble with it too."

"Alright well it's pretty simple…"

While this was going on Lydjah had pulled up seats for everyone else, though Sam initially refused to sit down and actually take part in a study session.

"First James actually asks for tutoring and now you want me to revise before a test?"

"Well you can either join us or do something else but James has apparently already joined in." Lydjah shrugged, gesturing to the other two second years that had their heads close in heated discussion over the correct pronunciation of the incantation for beetles into buttons. Sam conceded to this point and then sank into a chair, automatically correcting Molly's wand-work as she attempted Flipendo ("The second flick is less sharp than the first.") and then glaring at Lydjah's smug expression.

Perhaps due to this study session, not that the Gryffindors would ever admit it, all eight of them went into their end of year exams feeling relatively prepared although by the end of the week they'd be cursing every school-related person to walk the earth, including Professor Avisana.

Jayna swore up and down that she was almost killed by every plant in the Herbology greenhouse, Lydjah made up the entirety of her chart in Astronomy based on a documentary she'd half-watched with her Mum when she was eight, Sam fell asleep during the History of Magic exam and James spent half his time drawing on her face, Lien poured Horklump juice into her potion instead of adding two valerian sprigs ("How in Merlin's name did you manage to mix up those two?"), Albus was so startled by the strange whistling noises coming from Lien's cauldron that he knocked over a vial of Erumpent Potion which burnt a hole through the floor and consequently caused Professor Slughorn to trip and fall flat on his face, Molly somehow managed to transfigure her match into full-length sword which almost speared Henry Arnton in the throat and Scorpius was so excited that he actually did his transfiguration right that he accidentally set fire to Professor Jordan's shoes (she wasn't impressed) but all in all their exams went pretty well.

The school had gotten quite used to the eight of them meeting up now and then so they only got a few strange looks as they settled down by the lake after their final exams (Potions for the second years, History of Magic for the firsties) chatting and laughing among themselves. Molly used her finally-learnt knockback jinx to send James tumbling into the lake, something everyone found hilarious, as Jayna lamented to Scorpius about not being able to call them 'firsties' next year. She was abruptly cut-off mid-sentence as James hugged her from behind, still sopping wet. She shrieked and on instinct threw her elbow backwards into her attacker's stomach… Except she rather missed his stomach (as noted earlier her aim had never been good) and ended up sinking her bony arm into a rather more sensitive lower area. James made a very pained noise and let go of her. She was caught between remorse and hilarity and so it wasn't very surprising that James didn't take her laughter-filled apology to heart.

When they finally got on to the subject of the tasks all of them were feeling lazy (or as lazy as Sam ever felt, which was more alert than Lydjah when she'd had a good ten hours sleep and several caffeine-filled drinks) in the 'heat' (it was hot for Scotland at least).

"Why don't we just start the first one in September? That way we can enjoy the summer without having to worry about it." Molly suggested. The other seven murmured their agreement from where they were lying with their eyes closed, facing the sun (or in Albus' case looking longingly at the shade).

Lydjah yawned. "Why don't we meet up some time in the holidays to decide which category to start with?"

James raised his head off the grass at this idea. Much to everyone's annoyance he'd taken his shirt off in order to 'dry-off' which had caused several other second year girls (and one third-year boy) to blush red and feel rather faint.

"You can all come to Roxanne's party if you want," the first years neglected to mention they were already invited, "it's being hosted at our house this year because they're having renovations on their house; we have enough room and Dad probably won't notice the extra people." Jayna and Lydjah looked a little worried about sneaking into Harry Potter's house without his invitation until Albus kicked his brother in the ankle.

"By that James means he's going to ask Dad if he can have some friends round as soon as he gets home and then pretend that you all have to sneak in." James rolled his eyes but shrugged, agreeing, lying back down. Jayna thought it was an admirable quality; being able to laugh at yourself. Merlin knows she'd never been able to do that. Her admiration of him immediately faded as he winked at Olivia Ianson.

"What would your girlfriend have to say about that?" Lien admonished, reaching across Albus to jab him in the ribs with a finger. James yelped and wiggled away from her, wrinkling his nose.

"No girlfriend."

"Oh." Lien bit her lip; that was awkward. "Sorry." James shrugged. "Why did you break up?"

"She found out that I knew about her sister and Aline going out."

"Well she can't blame you for keeping their secret!" Jayna burst out hotly. James raised his eyebrows and smirked to himself. If someone had told him at the start of the year that Jayna Blackwood would be defending his break ups he would've taken them to the Hospital Wing to check for a serious Bludger injury to the head.

"She can and she did." James sighed. "I don't really mind; it's not as if I expected us to stay together long anyway." Jayna gave him a strange look. "What?"

"I just don't understand why you'd go into a relationship knowing it was going to end."

"I don't understand why you'd go into a relationship at all." Molly muttered, only for Scorpius' ears; he snorted.

"Fun? A laugh? Mutual interest in exploration but not commitment?" Jayna made a vomiting noise at the last one and he laughed.

"As much as I'm sure your 'exploration' tales could keep me riveted for hours, I'd like to drop this conversation." Lydjah said.

"Oh you just can't deal with this sexiness and your jealously over said sexiness." James joked. Lydjah raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, what's there to be jealous of?" She inquired innocently.

James pushed her into the lake.


	67. Of Ends to Beginnings

The last day of the year, without fail, always ended in a train ride. It had to; otherwise no-one would get home.

The way it started, however, was always different.

Jayna, Lydjah, Molly and Scorpius liked to think that the last day of their 2017-2018 school year actually started several days before the final 24 hours. The last day was not so much of a time period but a feeling, and they'd all been feeling restless for the summer holidays from the moment they got their exam results. As they were only second/first years they didn't get their results by post because they weren't that important and were marked by the teachers not the exam board. All of them had done well, actually most of them had done more than well, and after they'd read the pass grades several times it was straight out into the sun where they stayed for most of the final week.

For those who were more sports-orientated, the term hadn't ended until after the final Quidditch match. This year the cup was tied between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff with Gryffindor on a thirty point head-start and heat was rising between the two normally amicable houses. Literally everyone was in the stands to watch the game (except the few hysterical OWL/NEWT students who'd gone home early). Albus was so glad he had friends like Jayna who insisted on arriving half an hour early to everything so he was guaranteed to have a good seat. She'd decided to place them in the middle stands so they didn't look like they were favouring either side. James and Sam grudgingly sat next to Lydjah, looking longingly at the Gryffindor dominated side of the pitch as they did so until Scorpius lightly swotted them on the backs of their heads.

The match was pretty brutal. There weren't any filthy tricks but there were quite a few clever ones. Every time the Seekers spotted the snitch the Beaters would suddenly rapid fire the opposing Seeker forcing them to give up. A number of elaborate Quidditch moves were being used; the Dopplebeater Defence by Luke Kingston and Fred Weasley knocked Ruth Okell out for the count and Hufflepuff had to bring in their replacement Chaser who, unfortunately for them, wasn't half as good. The other Chasers had gotten wary of the Bludgers by then though and after a particularly talented Sloth Grip Roll by Chelsea Zabala the Beaters split up again.

Hufflepuff managed to take revenge for Ruth by correctly performing a Translyvanian Tackle on Caleb Nuttal just before he scored causing him to lose concentration and crash into the centre goalpost. That left both teams on their replacement Chasers (and a certain Ravenclaw running after her bleeding boyfriend much to the annoyance of her twin brother as he publically announced his distaste from the commentator box).

Everyone was watching with baited breath, even those who hadn't the slightest clue about the rules or where to look, but it was all over when, with a not-so-subtle vicious glare at her ex-boyfriend, April Upton snatched the snitch from the air without a care in the world as if she had somehow managed to sneak up on it, though it took a few moments for her to signal her capture to the referee who was too busy calling a foul on Matthew Xylander for blatantly blatching Louis Weasley.

A little later, in the Gryffindor Common Room, where an end of year/Quidditch win party was taking place in full swing, the victorious team were beginning to wonder where their Captain was. Chloe Green stuck her head out of the portrait hole only to see the ecstatic Head Boy pushed up against the wall by the smirking Head Girl and decided perhaps it was better to just leave him to it.

And so the last day of school began to end. The student-body boarded the train, some of them sobbing as they waved goodbye to Hogwarts for the last time, and packed away their memories with their belongings, saving any worries for a few hours' time when they would disembark. Lydjah Dawson and Jayna Blackwood found a compartment, shoved their trunks into all the necessary places and sat down. Of course, they'd barely been sat two minutes when Molly Weasley and Lien Irby poked their heads in the door with identical grins on their faces. They all laughed at the Deja vu and how far they'd come. Lydjah did an impression of Jayna's snobby staring out of the window for which she promptly received a bruise on her arm.

A little later James Potter and Sam Andrews sauntered in without asking, their bags suspiciously absent. Sam gave a critical look around the compartment.

"You should move your bags next-door where we've got ours then we'll lock it up and we'll all fit in here."

"Or you could move your bags in here and we could move next door seeing as people are, usually, easier to move than bags?" Lydjah suggested. Sam conceded to this point and they all traipsed out and into the new compartment.

"Oh Blackwood; have I mentioned how much I love you yet?" James said teasingly. Jayna frowned at him. "Gave Fred his birthday present, on time, because of that Remembrall. I don't think I even knew when his birthday was before this year." He elaborated. Jayna rolled her eyes but she was smiling.

As if on cue when the train began to move Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy appeared, visible through the glass of their compartment, a green goo-like substance covering their hands and mischievous smirks on their faces.

"What did you do?" Molly asked as she unlocked the compartment for them, not wanting to get the goo anywhere else.

"Let's just say Jack Coleman is going to have a nasty surprise when he gets back from the toilets."

When they'd got themselves cleaned up and they'd stocked up on food from the trolley James proposed a game of Wizard's Chess between Jayna and Albus. Despite Jayna's protests the game was set and she gave up all attempts at making conversation at the same time as she had to put all her concentration onto the game. It was clear after about half an hour that Albus was going to win but Jayna had a way with defence and could keep the game going on in a stalemate indefinitely.

Somewhere during their game Sam had left to 'get some more food' but had come back flushed with her hair loose and mussed up and her lips swollen. Except the two intent on their game, the rest of the carriage had given her unimpressed but amused looks as she blushed and muttered something about not being able to see Lee over the summer.

When Albus finally called Checkmate (which caused the rest of the carriage to cheer in relief and Jayna to glare at all of them individually) Jack Coleman had walked past, eyes murderous, covered head to toe in bright sparkly green goo. Albus and Scorpius had dived under people's legs, which, to their surprise, actually worked, despite the fact that their hysterical laughter could be heard from the other end of the carriage.

James and Sam high-fived them while Lien brought up the topic of Sam and James' end of year prank. None of them thought they could top Halloween but boy were they in for a shock. James and Sam had covered every piece of food and drink at the feast in belching powder causing every member of the school to begin burping uncontrollably but somehow in a strange sort of chorus of the school song, which coincidentally activated just as the Ravenclaw banners unfurled from the ceiling (they'd won the House Cup, again), and, when the chorus ended, a few of the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes modified fireworks had gone off. There was a roaring lion that ran down the Slytherin table but stopped to blow a kiss to Albus and Scorpius, an explosion of red and gold ribbons on the other side of the hall; and on each ribbon there was a strangely uplifting if a little strange message, i.e; 'At least your name isn't Merlin' or 'You're prettier than a unicorn' or, Jayna's personal favourite, as she could tell James was all over this one; 'Even Obliviate couldn't make me forget you', the one-footed hopping pot from The Tales of Beedle the Bard had come banging down the centre aisle blurting gifts of sweets from Skiving Snackboxes and finally a huge explosion had gone up at the back to spell out the words;  
'Your favourite pranking duo;  
Phase Two'.

Not only that but they'd also changed half the doorknobs in the school into the biting ones during the feast, despite their apparent attendance the entire time and it took almost all the staff to figure out how to remove them. It turned out Sam was rather handy with a screwdriver and none of the staff had ever seen one before as the Muggleborn and Halfblood staff were rather out of the times, which meant after the feast had ended the whole population of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw towers had to camp out in the Great Hall because all the doorknobs to the dormitories inside had been meddled with. The two pranksters seemed to take particular revenge on the Ravenclaw door knocker as the whole corridor had been completely blackened by instant darkness powder and then the knocker itself had a red and gold feather-boa stuffed in its mouth, preventing it from doing much else than squawk indignantly until its rescue.

Professor Vector took off most of the house points of Gryffindor but none of them really minded as they were far behind the leading house anyway and it would've taken an extremely large feat to make them win.

The eight ("We couldn't get into the Hufflepuff Common Room or the Slytherin one in the time limit so we had to make do.") of them ("You are really bad at chess Jayna.") were so ("Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans are so much better than Chocolate Frogs!") invested in ("Bite me Andrews.") their chats ("Shut up! At least I'm not as bad as Scorpius.") that they ("Scorp, Al, duck! Jack's coming back this way!") didn't notice ("I'm so excited for the World Cup. Oh Lien you have to come! Maybe not with us though… We get a lot of attention from the press…") when the ("I told you! I told you she was going to snog him! They're together now right? What did Derrick say about it? Bet he's right pissed off.") train reached ("I was mortified! He just ran over to me and said our love was eternal or what not and that he even forgave me for buying an owl! Is there is no end to this boy's stalkerish tendancies?") the station ("Jay-Jay I can't wait to take you to the cinema you're going to love it!") until it ("What is a cinema?") had juddered ("Molly! Who doesn't know what a cinema is?!") to a ("Ugh I'm going to miss you all so much it's disgusting.") complete halt. They all clambered off quickly, grabbing pieces of litter and other people's jumpers and bags until they were all stood, breathless, in the station, swapping their various belongings and beginning to search for family members.

Scorpius was the first one to spot his family; Draco looked to be on his own but it wasn't as if Scorpius minded, and, as he was going in the opposite direction to the Goyles, he took this as his cue to leave. He hugged Jayna, to her surprise, and smirked at the rest of them before taking off towards his father; a strangely determined expression on his face for what they assumed was just a greeting.

Audrey, Percy, Lucy, Lily, Harry and Ginny broke off from their brood and came over to them next. Lily crashed into Albus' legs as a way of greeting. Molly touched Lucy's hand gently and the ten year old gripped onto it without looking at her sister. Molly smiled. Sam held a hand out each for Harry and Ginny to high-five; they obliged her, laughing as they did so. Lily was quickly dragged away from Albus' (mostly truthful) recount of the last few weeks by James who tickled her mercilessly as he lifted her into the air.

"Oh Mum, Dad, you just missed my friend Scorpius Malfoy. This is Sam Andrews, Jayna Blackwood, Lydjah Dawson and Lien Irby." Molly introduced. If Audrey or Percy was in anyway disapproving of her friends they hid it well and smiled politely at all of them.

"So you're the Ravenclaw who was involved in the kidnapping that's been driving my husband up the wall." Ginny laughed as she shook hands with Jayna. Jayna let out a nervous giggle (after all this was Ginny Potter she was speaking to) and nodded. "You're the other Ravenclaw who has a particular way with words." She continued, indicating Lydjah. Lydjah blushed slightly.

"In my defence I did have concussion." Mrs Potter laughed.

"You must be Lien; Molly wouldn't stop talking about you at Christmas." Ginny said to the Muggleborn. Molly pulled a face at her aunt who returned it with gusto. Lien giggled and nodded.

"And, oh Sam of course; you're staying with us for the first week right?" She smiled at her oldest son's best friend who inclined her head in turn and in answer to her question. "How's your Quidditch practice going?" They conversed for a few seconds enthusiastically about Quidditch in general before Ginny's realised the time. "We better be off; my idiot of a husband-"

"I resent that!"

Ginny acknowledged his interference with a small smile. "He's been wanting to play Quidditch; adults against kids again since you left."

"You mean he wants a rematch because he couldn't believe Al caught the snitch before he did?" Sam said with a smirk. Harry mock-glared at her.

"And after I'd gone to all that work of scoring too; I was running rings around James." Ginny teased. James scowled.

"Says the professional Quidditch player of six years." He retorted. "With you and Auntie Angelina both against me I had no chance. I'm not even on the _school_ team yet."

"Sore loser." Ginny coughed under her breath. The surrounding people laughed. A round of hugging ensued, made rather complicated because four people were trying to leave. Ginny smiled slightly at Jayna's blush when James hugged her. "She reminds me of me." Ginny murmured to Harry in an undertone. Harry smiled, wrapping an arm around his wife who instinctively leaned into him.

"Wonder if he'll be as stupid about it as I was."

"Oh undoubtedly." With a final proclamation of goodbyes, collections of baggage and 'I'll write you's Albus, Molly, Sam and James left with the Potter/Weasleys and returned to the main group of their clan to begin to walk to the exit. Jayna started when she saw Riley Skeeter's camera flash and take a picture of the family as they left, but Lydjah held her back.

"What is she going to do with a picture of the Potter/Weasleys? There have been about a million of them before and they'll be another million before the day is up probably." Jayna shrugged in agreement.

Just then Alen came tumbling out of the crowd. "Sorry couldn't get Sophia off my back-" He stopped at the angry look on his daughter's face and instead held his arms out for a hug which she took with relish. Alen was a large man; both in stomach and shoulder, and his hugs were rather like a personification of Christmas in Lydjah's opinion. He had a scruffy fatherly beard, large glasses that rested casually on his nose, a total Dad-joke filled delightful sense of humour and loved reading just as much as his daughter and her best friend did.

Jayna took a moment to reflect on how much Alen and Sophia had done for her. While Alen might have been used to the magical way of doing things, and might have even felt an obligation to take her in when he realised her relation to his family, Sophia had no such reason and yet she'd taken to her just as much as Alen had. She knew they had forgiven her impoliteness due to the events of last summer but Jayna still felt guilty for how she'd treated them. They'd literally known her for two days when they agreed to adopt her. Granted it was impossible circumstances, but many people would've felt no guilt in giving her to her closer relatives. She knew that she'd never see them as her 'true' family, and they knew that and probably felt the same, (it was more like their favourite friend of their daughter's had decided to come on an eternal sleepover) and she knew herself well enough to decide that this wasn't due to guilt or grief over her family, but she'd missed them all the same.

To both Alen and Lydjah's pleasant surprise Jayna awkwardly joined in the hug too, just for a few seconds, but it was a start. A flustered second later they offered to wait for Lien's parents but she waved them off. It took Jayna a second to notice that Lien was squeezing her middle as the Muggleborn was quite a bit shorter than her but she returned the hug eventually.

"I'll write to you both over the summer; I'll buy an owl as soon as I have the chance or maybe I'll mail all my letters to the magical post office. Honestly it would be so much easier if you lot had e-mail addresses."

"Tell me about it." Lydjah agreed, patting Lien on the head as the exuberant Hufflepuff threw her arms around the older girl. With a final wave Jayna and Lydjah departed, disappearing into the crowd of bustling people. Lien waited for a moment, still stood by the tracks, assuming her family had got confused by the station number. It wasn't until the station was almost clear that her family finally turned up; looking slightly flustered but as normal as ever. She studied them as she hurried over, her trunk still way too big for her skinny arms.

Lien's parents were dressed plainly, looking at the Wizarding fashion of the few remaining people with varying degrees of incredulity and confusion (even Jayna had admitted that robes were very hard to run in (which, Lien concluded, was probably why Jayna liked them so much)). Robert Irby was average height, his wife a little shorter than him (they had all wondered how both Lien and Pearl had ended up so small). Pearl wore in style-clothing, her light hair still had fading pink stripes in it and she was just generally pretty in a cute way, just like Lien, as opposed to Sam or Fleur Weasley and her children who excluded a scary kind of beauty wherever they went. She got to the gate and hugged her parents, forcing them together as she tried to encompass everyone in her hug despite her lack of arm-length.

She took one more look at the station; the scarlet train beginning to puff and prepare for its trip back, the bubbling green liquid that was slowly edging towards the track; she was sure it had been there since September, and the worn stones that spoke of the stories that had happened here, stories that she would love to add to in the next six years. Then Lien was gone, her Hufflepuff scarf trailing behind like a loose kite string, and a smile brighter than the sun spreading across her face.

Deep in the darkness under a famous castle a presence was stirring. In over a thousand years, this presence had never even remotely shifted and yet now its thoughts were slowly beginning to wake up. Slowly, hour by hour, it was learning to infiltrate the eight minds of those who dared to disturb it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To anyone who has read this, I hope you enjoyed it! This fic hasn't had a lot of support and I'm not sure if that's because it was unfinished up till now or just because HP isn't quite as popular as it was when I first started writing this, way back when, so I don't think I'm going to upload the sequel right now. I don't know. If you'd be interested in reading the sequel tell me below. Otherwise; thank you so much for reading! I hope you all have a brilliant week :)


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